


run with your heart

by jenhyung



Series: runner boy and his cup [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenhyung/pseuds/jenhyung
Summary: a collection of shorts, drabbles, fillers from the rbahc universe! (jeno/renjunl)





	1. content

this work runs similarly to 'under the thousands' wherein shorts, drabbles and fillers will be posted from the 'runner boy and his cup' universe.

all chapters can be read as standalones, but all works are related. there might be repeats of information over the ones that overlap, but none of it should be too repetitive. works will be posted in a non-linear fashion.

 

* * *

 

 

_timeline_

**year 2**  
[runner boy and his cup](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814800) (jeno/renjun)   
[a runner once more](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18191435) (renjun/jeno)   
[the one where jeno brings renjun home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44019196) (renjun/jeno)

 

 **year 3**  
[you're my antidote](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13765392) (jungwoo/yukhei)  
[sunday morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15225849/chapters/35777331) (jeno/renjun)

 

 **year 4**  
[the one with the pink and yellow drinks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44017144) (renjun/jeno)  
[the one with the ice cream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44020312) (jeno/renjun)  
[a birthday promise](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14057523) (renjun/jeno)  
[give a little time to me (or burn this out)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17279696) (renjun/jeno)

 

 **year 5**  
[the one with a late night call](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/43995271) (jeno/renjun)  
[the one with four kids](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44021917/) (renjun/jeno)

 

* * *

 

_by chapter_

title: [the one with a late night call](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/43995271)  
pairing: jeno/renjun  
genre: fluff (drabble)  
rating: g  
word count: 800+  
rbahc time period: year 5, january

*

title: [the one in the alternate universe](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44000887)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: slight angst  
word count: 2k+  
rbahc time period: not applicable

*

title: [the one with the pink and yellow drinks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44017144)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: fluff  
word count: 1k+  
rbahc time period: year 4, february

*

title: [the one where jeno brings renjun home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44019196)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: very slight angst  
word count: 1k+  
rbahc time period: year 2, march

*

title: [the one with the ice cream](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44020312)  
pairing: jeno/renjun  
genre: fluff, slight angst  
word count: 1k+  
rbahc time period: year 4, march

*

title: [the one with four kids](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44021917/)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: fluff (kissing)  
word count: 1k+  
rbach time period: year 2, february

*

title: [the one at the beach](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44078965)  
pairing: jeno/renjun  
genre: fluff   
word count: 1k+  
rbach time period: year 5, march

*

title: [the one where jeno skips the recital](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44080264)  
pairing: jeno/renjun  
genre: fluff   
word count: 1k+  
rbach time period: year 1, july

*

title: [the one where the football flies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44143309)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: fluff   
word count: 1k+  
rbach time period: year 2, february

*

title: [the one by the great lake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/47217670)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: fluff  
word count: 1k+  
rbach time period: not applicable

*

title: [the one where jeno comes home drunk](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/48157324)  
pairing: renjun/jeno  
genre: fluff (kissing, making out)  
word count: 2k+  
rbach time period: year 5, august

 

 

 

 

 


	2. the one with the late night call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, fluff, 800+  
> (takes place a few weeks after 'give a little time to me (or burn this out)'
> 
> rbahc time period: year 5, january

“– hear me?” 

“Yeah,” Jeno adjusts his headphones, tapping it on the right to raise the volume. “Can you?”

“Mm,” comes Renjun’s voice, soft and weighed with sleepiness. He yawns, excusing himself. Jeno pictures it easily, the way Renjun’d curl up against his pillow, their comforter pulled to his chin. “Are you just closing now?” 

Jeno hums, “Yeah. Jinyoung left early for a party, so I’m the only one here tonight.”

“Didn’t he leave early the last time too?”

Jeno grabs a wash cloth and spray bottle of disinfectant off the counter, moving towards the tables to give them a wipe down. “Yeah – the managers aren’t too happy about that,” he clicks his tongue, “They might cut down on his shifts since he’s been coming in late too.”

“Hm,” Renjun sighs. Jeno can hear how close he is to the receiver, breaths in shallow puffs. He tries not to make too much noise on his end, careful with the way he’s sliding metal chairs back into place, not wanting to jar Renjun. “At least you don’t have to make small talk with him.”

Jeno arms the tabletop with a lemony-fresh spritz, “That’s true. I’d rather be talking to you anyway.”

Renjun laughs tiredly, “Would you really?”

Jeno doesn’t miss a beat, “Yeah.”

Sleep makes Renjun’s lips loose, “You’re bluffing.”

“I’m not bluffing,” Jeno pauses from where he’d been wiping a table down, hands propping him up. He looks to the clock on the wall, _12:06AM._ Friday night shifts at the café always ended late and Jeno knows Renjun’s been clocking in early hours at the studio for his textiles project. “I wish I didn’t have to work late today.”

“Me too.”

Weeks ago, Renjun would’ve lied. He would’ve said, _it’s okay, Jeno, I don’t mind_. But after what’d happened, Jeno is thankful to hear Renjun lying less – even if they _were_ white lies that he made to try and make Jeno feel better about spending so much time away.

Their weekly late-night calls became a thing then. Mostly because Jeno wanted to talk to Renjun before the boy drifted off to sleep (which was only whenever he worked closing shifts at the Beanie Hut), but Jeno thinks Renjun likes it too. It’s a way for them to catch one another up on their day or anything they might have wanted to say throughout the week but couldn’t.

Renjun talked largely on his upcoming projects and art exhibits and Jeno told stories about anything exciting that happened in track training or his lab sessions.

“I’ll be home before the hour’s up,” Jeno promises, hurrying to clear the last few tables. If the Beanie Hut customers were more considerate about picking up trash, maybe Jeno would get to save back-breaking pain while cleaning up.

“I’ll wait up for you,” Renjun says, though not at all convincing. “There’s still some leftovers from last night in the fridge, I can heat those up for you before you come home.”

“You don’t have to wait up,” Jeno reassures. He tosses the dirty rag into the sink, unapologetically leaving it for the morning shift to deal with (sorry, Minhyung). “You had an early morning –”

“I want to,” Renjun mumbles. Jeno nearly trips over an empty mop bucket. He kicks it to the side lest he really does. “Just call me when you’re leaving the store.”

Jeno unties his apron, “I’m leaving in five.”

“I did,” Jeno closes the lights in the backroom and sends Minhyung another quiet apology when his eyes catch the boxes of coffee cups and beans he promised he’d deal with. “I closed up early.”

“Jeno, if you’re busy, I can –”

“Please heat dinner up for me,” he unties the apron to hang in on the wall by the back exit, under the nametag _Lee Jeno_. “Will you be eating with me?” 

Renjun is quiet, and Jeno imagines the boy already sitting up on their bed, blanket pooled around his waist. He seems to be thinking seriously as Jeno locks everything up, remembering to check twice before tucking the keys away.

Jeno can’t help from grinning, a rush of adrenaline coursing through him. He’d just seen Renjun this morning but that didn’t matter at all; he’s going to see Renjun again _now_ , “Well?”

“I’ll make us some rice,” Renjun says finally, a lilt in his voice Jeno recognizes as joy.

“Okay,” Jeno beams. He’s sure Renjun can hear his excitement too, over the simplest of things even, “I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

“I love you,” Renjun says. Jeno hears the rustling of their sheets; it makes his heart beat faster.

“I love you too,” he laughs. The bus stand comes into view and another rush surges through him when he sees the bus pull up. He breaks into a run, one hand on his backpack, the other still clutching onto the phone tightly, “I love you.”

“What – are you running?”

“I’ll see you in ten minutes.” Jeno will never tire of this feeling, “I love you, Jun.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> taking requests for jeno's birthday for the next 24 hours! please send them to @jenhyungs on twitter or @jenhyung on curiouscat!
> 
> i wrote this in 30 minutes ;-;; but i will be spending the day working on this so please send requests if you have any, i'll try to get them all!


	3. the one in the alternate universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, slight angst, 2k+  
> (takes place in an alternate universe!)
> 
> hp/rbachc au pt. 1
> 
> rbahc time period: not applicable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **note:** this chapter is _not_ part of the rbahc universe ;; it's an alternate universe within rbahc - anything from this chapter will not affect works that are actually in rbahc's universe.

“Jun, wake up – we’re going to be late.”

He spreads his hand out to the right, trying to feel for Jeno’s arm to tug the boy closer – his morning ritual before forcing himself out of bed. Mornings have been hard for him lately; as much as he loved the sculptures project he was working on, he’s definitely spent a good part of the early mornings wishing he had an extra hour in bed with Jeno instead. Where he’d expected to feel Jeno’s soft skin under his hand is instead a roughness of something unfamiliar, the edges lined with… tassels?

“What are you doing?” The voice comes again. Renjun jolts upright when his mind finally registers that it’s not Jeno’s voice, “Renjun?”

He blinks twice, not quite believing the person before him – Donghyuck. Lee Donghyuck who’d stop being his roommate about a year ago, Lee Donghyuck who’d moved in to an apartment with his boyfriend, Lee Donghyuck who’s standing five feet away from him in a _cloak_ with burgundy trimmings.

“Who are you?” Renjun says this before thinking. He frowns at his own words because he _knows_ who this person is standing with his hands on his hips, a frown on his face. But at the same time, Renjun had no idea who this person is either.

Donghyuck, or some version of Donghyuck Renjun’s unfamiliar with, stares at him strangely, “Have you gone mad?”

Renjun balks, _Have I gone –_

“You must’ve hit your head hard during yesterday’s practice,” Donghyuck, _not-_ Donghyuck, sighs. He walks over, robes – _robes_ – billowing behind him, hand stretched out to feel Renjun’s forehead. When he deems it of a normal temperature, his hand drops to the side, “C’mon, let’s just get you down for breakfast. Maybe some food will do you good.”

“Breakfast?”

Donghyuck frowns, “Yes? That meal you eat at the beginning of every day?” He squints, “Seriously, what is going on with you today?”

 

+

 

The first thing Renjun plans to do when Donghyuck leads him out towards finding breakfast is to find Jeno. Waking up in this bizarre universe of magic – he saw a paper plane _fly,_ as in down the hall and around the corner – has him shaking to the core. He needed to see Jeno; if he _did_ wake up in some alternate universe, what did this mean?

His wand – wand! – feels heavy in his back pocket.

 _What if Jeno isn’t here?_ His mind wonders. Renjun feels a sharp pain in his chest at the thought of it – _No_ , _if Donghyuck is here, then Jeno should be here too._

Renjun tries to argue with himself the entire walk to the Great Hall, growing increasingly anxious at the state of things. _Even if Jeno were here, would he be_ my _Jeno? Or would he be some sort of Jeno like how this Donghyuck is?_ He eyes Donghyuck carefully, who seems to take no notice of Renjun’s frazzled self, talking about how he’s excited to spend Sunday with Minhyung in Hogsmeade – Hogswho? _Where?_

“– and he said he’d be having Quidditch practice, which is, frankly, quite annoying since – I mean, when are they _not_ at Quidditch practice?” Donghyuck goes on. Renjun stuns at the way he (not Donghyuck) sounds just like real Donghyuck – like how real Donghyuck used to complain about the way Minhyung spent all of his time after school at track practice. “But of course, I wouldn’t say anything about it – he and Jeno are vying for best seeker even though Min’s like a year ahead –”

“Jeno.” Renjun nearly chokes on the name. Donghyuck looks over his shoulder briefly, and Renjun steels his expression, “Sorry, you said – Jeno?”

“Yeah.” Donghyuck turns away, “That Seeker from Ravenclaw?”

 _Raven-what?_ Renjun’s head spins, “He’s here?”

“Well, he’s got to be. It’s breakfast – everyone’s in the Great Hall at breakfast. Besides,” Donghyuck turns to look at Renjun, that glint in his eye shining just like real Donghyuck’s would, “Since when did you notice Lee Jeno, anyway?”

The words crash into Renjun like an eighteen-wheeler truck. _That means –_ he swallows thickly, not wanting to continue that thought. His hands are sweaty in his pockets and the robes are too hot for summer. Renjun wants to run back to bed and hide under the covers and fall asleep again to wake up in his normal bed with Jeno on his right like he always is – like he _has_ to be.

 _Jeno, Jeno, Jeno_.

Pressure builds up behind his eyes and he does his best not to cry, because how on earth – is he even still on earth? – is he going to explain his way out of that one to not-Donghyuck?

They turn the final corner and the doors to the Great Hall are there, daunting for other reasons than its height, Renjun thinks. He follows Donghyuck closely to a long, wooden table filled with other students dressed in red robes. The other three tables hold students in green, yellow, and blue robes, all chattering excitedly over a feast meant for celebrations.

“Yo,” Donghyuck high-fives a boy across from where he’s sliding into the seat. Renjun recognizes from his pink hair that it’s Jaemin. But it’s also _not_ Jaemin because Jaemin doesn’t wear burgundy robes and he doesn’t have breakfast in a giant ballroom with five hundred other people.

“Took you long enough,” Jaemin snorts. He pushes two chocolate puddings towards Donghyuck and Renjun, “Saved these for you guys before those nasty first-years could steal them all.”

Donghyuck says _thanks_ , so Renjun does too.

“Are you okay?” Jaemin asks, watching Renjun have a staring contest with his pudding. “I didn’t put anything in it, don’t worry.”

Renjun wasn’t worried about that before, but he sure is now. “I’m, uh – just not that hungry. Thanks.”

Jaemin looks at Donghyuck, who shrugs, “He hit his head during practice yesterday.”

“You should see Madam Kim,” Jaemin nods. Renjun chews on his inner cheek to keep from screaming, because _what?_ “She helped Min through that one time he got hit by the back of Park Chaeyoung’s broom.”

Renjun doesn’t even want to question it. A strong push of nausea gurgles in his chest and Renjun excuses himself before he hurls in front of not Donghyuck and not Jaemin, panic rising to his throat. Thankfully, they don’t chase after him, but Renjun doesn’t miss the way they trade concerned looks with one another – at least not Donghyuck and not Jaemin are as equally nice as the real Donghyuck and Jaemin.

Renjun, however, doesn’t make it far. He gets to the end of the hallway, a sinking feeling in his gut when he realizes he doesn’t know where to _go_. The route Donghyuck took was a long one filled with moving stars and winding passages and Renjun isn’t sure, but he’s convinced they actually came down from a _tower_. Legs trembling, he grabs onto the stone walls, the cool of it at least comforting under his palm. A few students walk by (none of whom Renjun recognizes) to give him odd looks and a girl is nice enough to ask if he’s okay, but Renjun ignores them all.

“I need to go back,” he heaves, breath coming in short. “I need to go back, I need to go –”

“Hey.”

That _voice_.

Renjun whirls around, forgetting all about his light-headedness. He stumbles back, but he’s caught in that second, eyes meeting with sapphire robes and dark hair and fair skin and a tall nose and plush lips –

“Saw you running out of the Great Hall,” Jeno says. _Jeno_ , Renjun thinks. _But not Jeno_. He gives Renjun a small smile, practically radiating concern, “Are you okay?”

Renjun snatches his arm from not Jeno’s grasp, heart shrieking as he did so. “Don’t touch me.”

Not Jeno blinks at his hostility, “What?” Renjun has no answer to that, so not Jeno takes the chance to keep speaking. “Are you worried someone followed me here?”

Renjun freezes, “What?”

“It’s okay,” Jeno is smiling again. It’s a little tenser this time, but a smile nevertheless. “I made sure no one did. Your friends are still at breakfast and I know Minhyung has a meeting with Professor Jung this morning about his Potions essay.”

Renjun’s hand finds its way back to the wall, “What – what are you talking about?”

Jeno tilts his head. _Not_ Jeno, Renjun reminds himself. _This is not Jeno_ , no matter how much he seems to look like Jeno and his golden retriever head tilt, “No one’s going to find out, Renjun, I promised – it’s just practice.”

Renjun feels a terrible stab of dejection in his heart. Even in another universe, they were locked in a bind like this – and while he and real Jeno have already crossed that bridge and argument, it seemed like not Jeno hasn’t.

Renjun _hates_ it.

“Get away from me,” he grits out. _I want Jeno_.

Not Jeno’s eyes turn into saucers, realization clear on his face when he pieces together that something isn’t right, “Renjun?” He reaches for Renjun again, but the older boy steps away. The hurt on Jeno’s face is almost enough for Renjun to take back his words, “What’s going on?”

Renjun shakes his head. A horrified gasp slips through his lips when he feels tears on his cheeks. Not Jeno’s expression crosses a hundred different emotions, he reaches out for Renjun again and Renjun almost – _almost_ – takes it, the pained look on Jeno’s face gnawing at the corners of Renjun’s heart, confusion and raw _hurt_ enough to make Renjun wish he could just run into Jeno’s arms –  

but this isn’t _his_ Jeno.

“You’re not Jeno.”

Jeno – very _clearly_ some variation of Lee Jeno – gawks at Renjun like he’s grown three heads, “What?”

“You might be Jeno,” Renjun knows he’s going to sound insane, “But you’re not.”

“– I’m lost.”

“You’re Jeno,” Renjun brings his hands to his temples, pressing hard, “But you’re not _my_ Jeno.”

Not Jeno’s jaw hits the ground, “ _Your_ Jeno?”

“Yes,” Renjun closes his eyes. “You’re not _my_ Jeno. I’m not from _here,_ wherever this place is!”

“Renjun –”

“Jeno and I aren’t _practicing_ ,” Renjun hisses. Not Jeno freezes at the statement. “I – I love Jeno, and you’re not him. I don’t – I don’t know who _you_ are, but you’re not _my_ Jeno.”

“I –”

“My Jeno doesn’t wear blue robes or fly on brooms!” Not Jeno flinches, and Renjun lower his voice apologetically, “My Jeno – _my_ Jeno is a runner and he goes to a regular university and he eats too many health bars and he has glasses that he only wears in the apartment and we share that _apartment_ and he’s allergic to cats! Are you allergic to cats?”

Not Jeno seems like he’s about to have an aneurysm and Renjun thinks that’s _fine,_ because then they can have one together, “I – am. I’m allergic to cats.”

Renjun falters, “You are?”

Not Jeno nods fervently, “I am.” He adds, “And I have glasses too.”

“… you do?”

Not Jeno scrunches his nose, “I didn’t wear them because I have Potions later…”

“Oh my god,” Renjun sinks to his knees. He opens his eyes again when he sees Not Jeno crouch to the ground too, fingers twiddling over his chest. There isn’t a band around his ring finger and Renjun takes a deep breath before checking his own hand – it’s not there either. “Oh my god.”

“I don’t –” Jeno starts slowly. He waits for Renjun to tell him to _go away_ again, but Renjun can’t find it him to fight Not Jeno. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about – but I know a spot by the Great Lake we can go to if you want to talk about it.”

Renjun laughs weakly, “I just want to go home.”

Jeno, to his credit (and his gullibility), treats Renjun with more care than needed. Renjun’d just spent the last five minutes freaking out on him, there shouldn’t be any reason –

 _He must like Renjun too_. _The one – the one from this universe._

“I’ll help you,” Jeno says. It’s almost ridiculous how Renjun can hear the honor in his voice, “I’ll help you get home. Wherever you came from.”

Renjun shakes his head, “Is this normal? Meeting people – from – other universes?”

“It’s not unheard of,” Jeno admits. “Lots of spells go wrong here in this world.”

Renjun sighs gravely. He looks up at Jeno – _not_ Jeno – and closes his eyes again. _I miss you, Jeno_. _I miss you, I miss you, I miss you_. He can’t look at Not Jeno for too long – they’re too alike, they’re the _same_ person. But then again, not at all.

“Why are you helping me?”

Not Jeno considers it. And then with finality, “If you’re here, then it means – it means _my_ Renjun is stuck in a world elsewhere too.”

 _My Renjun_.

“Okay – lead the way, Jeno.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone requested for rbahc to be in potterverse, i hope this is understandable? ;-;; i might continue this arc if anyone's any interested! 
> 
> please leave any comments/feedback for this chapter (particularly) - i'm really interested to hear what you think of it ;;


	4. the one with the pink and yellow drinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, fluff, humor, 1k+  
> (takes place sometime after jeno gets his job at the beanie hut)
> 
> rbahc time period: year 4, february

“Hey there, how’s your day going?”

Renjun hides a laugh, “I’m doing good. And you?”

“I’m doing –” Jeno looks up from the register then, eyes doubling when he sees Renjun standing on the other side of the counter. “Baobei!”

Renjun cringes inwardly at the volume of Jeno’s voice ringing throughout the, thankfully, relatively empty store. He’d re-taught the word to Jeno at his insistence over dinner last weekend and it’s been decided by Jeno that it’s the only thing Renjun will now be referred to by. While Renjun loved how it made him all fuzzy inside, hearing Jeno declare it for the world to hear was going to need some getting used to.

“What’re you doing here!” Jeno taps at his coworker to handle the register, motioning for Renjun to the side where the counter ended. He takes Renjun into a bone-crushing hug, eliciting a tiny squeak out of the smaller boy. It doesn’t faze Jeno, “I thought you were locking in studio hours today?”

“I was,” Renjun grins, loving the way Jeno smiled at him. It was by far the first time he’s surprised Jeno at work, but every time he does, Jeno never seems to tire of it. “But I missed you.”

That makes Jeno _glow_ , “I missed you too, baobei.” Renjun represses an involuntary shudder, “I only have an hour left of my shift…”

Renjun kisses him sweetly on the cheek, “Of course I’ll wait.” Jeno beams, leaning in for another hug. Renjun’s breathes in deeply, the smell of coffee beans and Jeno’s shampoo almost intoxicating, “I’ll order a drink so it doesn’t look like I’m just mooching off you all the time.”

“I don’t mind,” Jeno says, already moving to grab a plastic cup to note Renjun’s order – a decaf mocha frap with extra whip cream. “Unless my manager sees it, it doesn’t come out of my pay anyway.”

Renjun rolls his eyes, “Still. You just got the job here, I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Jeno’s lips pulls into a deep frown but Renjun stands his ground, so Jeno caves and lets Renjun pay for the drink. He tells Renjun to wait at a table by the corner so Renjun goes, taking out his headphones and making himself comfortable. He hadn’t brought his laptop along with him this time so he settled with doodling on his notebook – his muse who other than the one and only Lee Jeno.

“Here you go,” Jeno announces his arrival, setting the drink down and alongside it, a strawberry cake with chocolate swirls. “The cake’s on the house.”

“Jeno –”

“What’s the point of having a boyfriend if I can’t spoil you, Jun?” Jeno angles the tray between his arm and hip, looking absolutely charming in the black barista’s apron, brown leather looped around his neck. Renjun thinks it’s unfair how his white canvas arts apron makes him look like a four-year-old with a treasured easy-bake oven.

“Thank you,” Renjun caves. He accepts the kiss Jeno ducks forward to give him, smiling when he feels Jeno grinning. It’s broken far too fast and Renjun pats Jeno twice on the hip, “Go back to work before they ban me from coming in here.”

Jeno laughs, eyes crinkling at the sides, “I just can’t help being distracted by you, baobei.”

Renjun blushes down to his neck.

+

Renjun spends forty-five minutes on two pages full of Jeno — his hands, his silhouette, his piercings. He practices sketching smiles and all of Jeno’s features, to the point where it might’ve been odd if someone were to flip his sketchbook open and see just a page of Jeno. But Renjun keeps drawing anyway, enjoying motion of it — he hasn’t had that much free time to sketch since the term started and taking the time to do it now has reminded him how much he did love sketching with pencil on paper.

He finishes yet another rendition of Jeno’s smile when he looks up, eyes searching for his boyfriend. A ways away, he sees Jeno serving a bright pink and yellow drink to two girls seated by the window. Renjun doesn’t think much of it, going back to his sketches with Jeno’s tall frame in mind.

He’s sketching the length of Jeno’s long legs when a shrieking laugh pierces through the café. The lady on Renjun’s left clicks her tongue in disapproval.

Again, Renjun’s eyes float back to where Jeno’s standing. He’s a little hunched over, hugging the tray to his chest, smiling down at the two girls who’re most definitely the source of screams. They giggle excitedly when Jeno tries to walk away, and one of them (the owner of the pink drink, the Valentine's day special from a week ago, Renjun thinks) rushes forward to stop him from leaving just yet. Renjun frowns, but he represses the uneasy feeling in his stomach.

_Jeno’s just working, it’s fine._

“– at _least_ let me give you my friend’s number!” Pink Drink girl insists, rummaging her purse for a pen. She starts to scribble on a napkin.

“Oh my god, Jin, no,” Yellow Drink girl says. She tells Jeno, “I’m so sorry, she’s so annoying, oh my god.”

Renjun doesn’t catch what Jeno says in return but he’s shaking his head, refusing the napkin shoved towards his chest.

“She’s really cute and wouldn’t mind just having boba on the first date!” Renjun winces at the way she’s auctioning her friend off. “Just her to that place on 23rd!”

“ _Stop_ ,” Yellow Drink girl says. “You’re so ridiculous – is everything a joke to you?”

“ _I’m_ ridiculous?” Jeno stands between them with a terrified look on his face, “I’m trying to _help_ you!”

“Forcing a barista go out with me is _not_ helping!”

“Why not?” Pink Drink girl holds the napkin to Jeno again. She turns to him, “You’d date her, right?”

Renjun stands then, and the movement catches Jeno’s eyes. He stares, stricken. Renjun picks up his half-finished cake, inching out of his seat and walking towards the counter to return it.

“Uh, excuse me, I’ve to tend to a customer –”

“Hey –”

Jeno scurries over, looking at Renjun with his lips in a tight line – he’s trying to keep himself from _laughing_. Renjun bites on his lower lip to stop himself from grinning too, watching over Jeno’s shoulder at how they two girls are engrossed in Jeno’s backview, arguing between themselves.

“I’ve never –” Jeno starts lowly, picking up the plate in guise of clearing it for Renjun. “Seen two customers cause this much ruckus.”

Renjun plucks a napkin from the holder, pretending to wipe his hands clean, “They’re making a ruckus for you, you know?” Jeno rolls his eyes, “They’re still staring!”

“Well,” Jeno holds onto the plate dearly, “Thank you for saving me, I don’t know what –”

“Excuse me!” The shrill voice comes again.

Jeno winces and Renjun snorts. He takes Jeno by the cheek, kissing the taller boy languidly. He traps Jeno’s lower lip between his own, sucking gently, a display so blatant, he’s sorry if the entire café were now looking at them. It’s a complete show-off, Renjun isn’t even going to deny it. Jeno’s free hand lands on Renjun’s hip, squeezing tightly.

“You’re welcome,” Renjun says when they break apart. The two girls have their faces hidden behind hands when he turns over to look.

“You’re _evil_ ,” Jeno says, but he’s positively beaming. He grabs Renjun by the hand, pulling him close for another kiss; and this time, it’s a kiss meant for just them two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone requested 'happenstance' and i don't know if it fits but it'll have to do! and the other request 'imagine: renjun visits jeno at the cafe(?) one day and while they’re both minding their own businesses (jeno working while renjun’s lazing around) jeno gets hit on by someone. renjun decides to show the world who jeno belongs to' - but i made it... less serious if that's okay ;-;
> 
> i love picturing them so confident in one another that small things like these don't faze them, especially since they're best friends (they'd just make fun of each other all the time) ;;


	5. the one where jeno brings renjun home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, fluff, 1k+  
> (takes place a few weeks after they first get together)
> 
> rbahc time period: year 2, march

“Do you want to come over for dinner?”

Renjun doesn’t look up from where he’s organizing his art supplies bag, _brushes, paint, extra canvas_. “Sure,” he says, distracted by how his bag always seems fuller after an afternoon of painting. “Should we pick something up before going over?”

Since the summer break’s soon approaching, the occupancy level in Renjun’s house has risen greatly, filled with his cousins on afternoons and evenings, all of them ready for finals to be over. He’s taken a liking to follow Jeno home for dinner ever since; Jeno’s mother worked late and his father was often on business trips and his sister was already off to college, it was nice for them to have the quiet house to themselves. Spending time together then was also different than sneaking kisses and touches during breaks at school, and Renjun doesn’t know exactly _when_ did he start looking forward to following Jeno home, but he did. Very much. 

“Oh. Actually…”

Renjun turns when he hears Jeno trail off. The younger boy is perched on one of the long, wooden desks by the middle of the room, and Renjun thinks their arts’ instructor would definitely have a heart attack if he saw this. “What is it?”

“My –” Jeno troubles with the words. Renjun straightens, now concerned with Jeno’s hesitance. “My mother said she’d be home to cook for dinner.”

“Oh.” Renjun doesn’t get it. He’s met Jeno’s mother a handful of times, “Oh, that’s – I just thought we were eating out again, so I said to get take-out, but – yeah, I wouldn’t mind joining you guys for dinner, if she’s okay with it.”

Jeno scratches at his neck, “Well, actually…” Renjun’s heart races, _what?_ “I already told her you’d be coming over for dinner.”

“Okay, that’s fine too,” Renjun says slowly. He leaves his brushes by his bag, walking over slowly to Jeno, hands outstretched. Jeno’s hand is ice-cold in his, “What’s going on, Jeno?”

“And I –” Jeno swallows thickly. From the meager distance between them, Renjun finally notices the dark circles under his eyes. He hadn’t noticed it before. Jeno averts his gaze, but his hands around Renjun’s tightens, “I told my mom – about us.”

Renjun’s blood runs cold. They hadn’t even been dating – seriously dating, that is – for that long; it’s only been weeks since they’d decided to make things official between them, Renjun hadn’t even _thought_ about telling his parents about Jeno. At least – not yet.

“I’m sorry,” Jeno shakes Renjun’s hands, trying to get Renjun to refocus. He didn’t even know he’d drifted off in his own thoughts, “I know I should’ve told you about it before telling my mother about us – but she saw the Jeno-cats you drew me, and she asked about them.” Jeno takes a big gulp of air, “And I didn’t want to lie about it to her – so I said they were from you and she just _knew_.”

Renjun is frozen listening to Jeno ramble on.

“And I couldn’t _lie_ , Jun, so I told her,” he mumbles softly. He squeezes their hands again, “I didn’t mean to – push you into meeting my mom as my _boyfriend_ ,” the word strikes Renjun’s heart, “– but she asked if you could come over for dinner and she said she’d be excited to meet you.”

The studio is silent. Renjun’s eyes are on the giant portrait of Minhyung hanging on the back of the room, but it’s blurred out, mind a flurry with worry; did Jeno’s mother think badly of their relationship? Would she tell them they’re not a good fit? That they’re too young to know yet what they’re getting into?

“Jun – please say something,” Jeno sways into Renjun’s line of sight, making him go cross-eyed. “You’re scaring me.”

“I –” Renjun stutters, “I – why does she want to… meet me?”

“I don’t know,” Jeno is equally worried and Renjun is thankful for that. “Just – to get to know you a little better, I guess? And she’s been asking about you and what you do – after – after I told her we were dating, especially since we spend every day together.”

Renjun shrinks into himself, Jeno’s energy (anxiousness or excitement, one of either) eating into his space, “What if – what if she doesn’t like me?”

That throws Jeno off, “Why wouldn’t she like you? She’s always liked you, Jun.”

“I mean –” Renjun lets Jeno laces their fingers together, “Maybe she won’t – now that we’re dating.”

Jeno shakes his head before Renjun can finish his sentence, “That’s not why she – no, Renjun, I’m sure – I’m sure she’s just curious about – us. I don’t tell her a lot of things about school, since – she’s so busy all the time, so I guess she’s just interested about the boy I’m dating.”

“She never asked to meet Jeonghwan.”

Jeno’s face pulls into a grimace at the mention of that girl he dated a year ago, “We dated for _six_ days – that doesn’t count. I didn’t even bother to tell my mother when we broke up.”

Renjun recalls the fit Jeonghwan threw in the middle of the school’s hallway the Monday after the weekend of her singing recital (which Jeno skipped to go for Renjun’s art exhibition instead). Donghyuck and Jaemin doubled over in laughter when Jeno grabbed for her hand, only to tell her that they’ve now broken up. Jeonghwan, who’d been expecting another apology, stormed off angrily, sending death glares to Donghyuck and Jaemin (which only made them laugh _even_ louder).

“Sorry,” Jeno sighs. “I shouldn’t have creeped this up on you – I could call and tell her we’re not ready for –”

“I’ll meet her,” Renjun mumbles. Jeno lips fall to a tiny _o_. “I’ll – have to meet her one day. I want to meet her.”

“But if you’re not ready –”

Renjun steps between Jeno’s legs, fitting himself close. He untangles their hands to hug Jeno, cheek on Jeno’s shoulder, “I want to.” He feels Jeno’s arms circle around him, “I just – I never thought I’d meet her as – as your _boyfriend_.”

Jeno buries his nose in Renjun’s hair, “Is it that hard to believe?”

 _You have no idea_ , “A little.” Jeno’s sweater is soft against his cheek, “Can we stop by the grocery store before? I shouldn’t go empty-handed.”

Jeno laughs, hand stroking the small of Renjun’s back, “You don’t have to get her anything, Jun.”

Renjun pulls away, staring into Jeno’s eyes, “I want to leave a good first impression.” Jeno breaks into a smile when he adds, “Especially if I’m the first boyfriend you’re bringing home.”

Jeno kisses him sweetly, “You’re the only boyfriend I ever want to bring home.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully in the future i'll be able to write the dinner scene (i'm trying to keep these short so i don't accidentally turn them into 5k works) ;-;; thank you for requesting!


	6. the one with the ice cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, fluff, 1k+  
> (takes place a few months after 'sunday morning')
> 
> rbahc time period: year 4, march

“Okay, okay, let’s compromise – we’ll get chocolate this week and strawberry next week.” Renjun looks at him with such _distrust_ that Jeno almost feels offended that his boyfriend has such little faith in him keeping promises, “We got mint chocolate last week – didn’t you pick that out?”

“We only got mint chocolate because Jaemin wanted mint chocolate,” Renjun reminds him. He starts to push the cart away, moving back towards the aisles that aren’t filled with junk food and tubs of ice cream. “And we can’t get chocolate, Donghyuck says Minhyung’s watching his diet for his next competition and you know chocolate is his weakness.”

Jeno nods somberly, “That one time he ate that whole chocolate bar before his marathon.” Renjun hums in acknowledgement, “I’d never seen Donghyuck so worried.”

“Well,” Renjun rubs at his eyes. “We did see him crash onto the pavement. Jaemin and I nearly lost our arms trying keep Donghyuck from jumping the fence.”

“I remember.”

Jeno cringes at the memory of seeing Minhyung fall to the ground, body short-circuting from the sugar rush. He’d been quite a distance away from Minhyung then, and by the time he got to the scene, Minhyung was already carried away by the paramedics on stand-by and Donghyung was dashing through the race course to Minhyung, ignoring Renjun and Jaemin’s calls to _stop, Hyuck!_

“Yeah. So – no chocolate this week.”

Jeno groans, “This is so difficult.”

“Shopping for the apartment always is,” Renjun says, leading them into the aisle of pasta and sauces again. They were here earlier, trying to find a compromise over sauces since Jeno didn’t like Bolognese and Donghyuck ate nothing but tomato-based pasta. “Trying to accommodate all four of us – five, if we count Minhyung.”

He leans against Renjun, ignorant of the fact that Renjun’s frame is significantly smaller, “I can’t wait until it’s just us two.”

Renjun cranes his neck to look down at Jeno, “What?”

“You know,” Jeno moves to slump against the cart, watching Renjun’s eyes follow him. “When we move out next year – it’ll just be us two.”

Renjun’s knuckles are white over where he’s holding into a jar of carbonara sauce, “You – you’d want to live with me?”

 _Is it so impossible to think so?_ Jeno raises a brow, “Well, yeah, of course.” He takes the jar out of Renjun’s hands before he breaks it with his grip alone, “I love living with everyone and it’s always fun to have game nights and nights where we get to convince Minhyung to drink with us, but I want to live with just you too.” He cocks his head to the side, “Have you never thought of that?”

“I have,” Renjun blurts out. His brown hair flounces around as he looks up and down the aisle, trying to gather his thoughts, Jeno knows, “I just didn’t think you had.”

Jeno messes the tower of saltine crackers in their cart, “Why wouldn’t I?” He looks up to meet Renjun’s eyes, glassy and bright, “You’re weird.”

“I’m _weird_?”

“Yeah.” Jeno props his elbow against the side of the cart, “You seem to always think I don’t love you as much as you love me.”

Renjun fumbles with his hands, “That’s not true.”

“Then why would you think I’d never want to live with you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You literally just said –”

“That’s not what I meant, Jeno –”

Jeno sighs, pulling away from the cart. The grocery store is hardly the place to have a conversation like this, Jeno doesn’t even know how they got to this point. He pushes the hair out of his eyes, looking off towards the ice ceam section, “I’ll go get the ice cream –”

“Hey,” Renjun stops him immediately, before he can leave, before he can take this little spat further than he needs to. He takes Jeno’s hand in his, urging Jeno to turn back around. “You know that’s not what I meant.” He leads Jeno’s hand to his hip, and Jeno bites on his tongue, watching Renjun stare him down, “I know you love me, of course I do.” He reaches up to curl his hand around Jeno’s neck, thumb grazing gently over Jeno’s cheek. The green of his bracelet distracts Jeno for a second.

Renjun goes on, “You just caught me off guard. I never knew you wanted us to live together. You’ve never mentioned this, Jeno.”

He simmers, “Minhyung and Donghyuck went apartment hunting last weekend.”

“ _Baobei_.” Jeno shivers at the nickname, “You – are you jealous about that?”

“No.” Renjun stares at him incredulously. A lady with two screaming kids passes them in the aisle, but Renjun is dead set on holding Jeno still, “It’s just got me thinking. That’s all.”

Renjun’s cheeks are pink, “Why didn’t you just tell me about it?”

Jeno withers, “I didn’t know how to bring it up.” He babbles, “I mean – we’re already living together, in a way. I didn’t know if I should ask you _again_ if you wanted to live together because I know our current dorm arrangement’s just out of convenience since there’s the four of us and Minhyung’s in the same residential building, and –”

“Yes, Jeno,” Renjun interjects before Jeno turns blue from all the speaking-and-no-breathing. “Yes, I’d love to move in with you.”

Jeno lips twitch, “Really?”

“ _Yes_ , Jeno.” Renjun kisses him quickly, leaving Jeno wanting more – he always leaves Jeno wanting more. “I want to share a place with you, have dinner with you, wake up in the same bed with you – of course, I want to. I love you.”

Jeno ignores the overwhelming chagrin for jumping the gun, “I love you too.”

Renjun is satisfied with that, letting Jeno go. He starts to push the cart again, “For now, we’ll just have to deal with shopping for our family of five.”

Jeno hooks an arm with Renjun’s sticking close, “You make it sound like we’re married.”

“We’re not having this conversation again, Jeno.”

“– wha –” Jeno juts his lower lip out, “Are you really, _really_ going to make me wait five years?”

“Ask me this again and I’ll make you wait for eight.”

Jeno shrugs, giving Renjun a wet kiss on the cheek, “I’d wait forever for you. I'd do this forever with you, even if it means we can't decide on ice cream flavors and we have to circle the store ten times over before we do.”

Renjun rolls his eyes, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand, but he holds onto the Jeno’s arm anyway, sickly sweet as they push the cart around together and Renjun thinks, _I'd do this forever with you too_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that last bit is a reference to '[sunday morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15225849/chapters/35777331)' if anyone was wondering ;-;; 
> 
> thank you for requesting! (this is getting harder, i'm trying really hard not to sound repetitive ;;)


	7. the one with four kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, fluff, humor, 1k+  
> (takes place months after 'give a little time to me (or burn this out')
> 
> rbahc time period: year 5, february

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: kissing and toplessness

When both Renjun (and Jeno) missed Donghyuck’s Christmas party last year, Renjun promised he’d make it up to Donghyuck. Which, in retrospect, shouldn’t have been a promise Renjun made so easily because Donghyuck is Donghyuck and they’ve been friends for _years_ – Renjun should know better than to give Donghyuck this much power.

It’s how he ends up agreeing to a double date with Donghyuck and Minhyung. He was excited about it when Donghyuck first proposed the idea; it’s been a long time since the four of them’d gone out on a double date, and while the days always end with them drifting away from Donghyuck and Minhyung, it was always fun to hang out and do couple-things together. Renjun should’ve known it was too good to be true when Donghyuck and Minhyung show up at his doorstep on Saturday morning, four toddlers crowding at their knees.

Renjun thinks he’s hallucinating, “Hello?”

“Rise and shine,” Donghyuck hollers, sauntering into Renjun’s (and Jeno’s) apartment, Minhyung following behind with an apologetic smile. They’re both dressed in jeans and clearly outdoor-sy outfits (Minhyung in a yellow hoodie and light wash denim jacket; Donghyuck in a red hoodie and a black bomber jacket), oddly matching in a couple-y kind of way Renjun can’t yet pick up – _Didn’t we say we were going to the mall? What’s with the warm outfits?_

Renjun refocuses his attention onto the children now in the apartment; three of the four boys stick close to Donghyuck’s legs while one is latched tightly onto Minhyung’s arm, forcing him forward into a sort of… awkward hunchback fashion. He closes the door to their apartment before he can entertain the idea of running out. He stares at the small boy that’s secured himself onto Minhyung, probably no older than age four.

Renjun looks up at the older boy, “Is there… something you’d like to tell me? Like – if you and Donghyuck made a certain impulsive decision over the past twenty-four hours?”

Minhyung rolls his eyes, “They’re his nephews, Jun. His two cousins are having a getaway this weekend and his mother promised he’d be okay with taking them on Saturday because she has spin class and all his other siblings are at music school.”

“Right.” Renjun squeezes his eyes shut, “So you guys brought them over here because…”

“We can’t handle four four-year-olds,” Minhyung says, as-a-matter-of-fact. He nudges the boy on his arm towards Renjun, “Heonwoo, this is Renjun, one of our friends that will be following us to the zoo today. Can you say _‘Hi, Renjun’_?”

Renjun’s head spins, _the zoo? No one mentioned anything about going to the zoo_.

Heonwoo ignores Minhyung’s request, hiding behind Minhyung’s arm again, refusing to even look at Renjun. Minhyung gives him another apologetic look, to which Renjun dismisses; he didn’t exactly care for a four-year-old not giving him the time of day.

“Go get changed,” comes Donghyuck’s voice. He’s standing in the middle of the living room with one toddler on his hip, the other two fussing over Renjun’s easel. The oil painting he’d been working on is safely tucked away behind the couch, he notes, silently thanking Donghyuck’s quick thinking. “Unless you plan on walking around the zoo in those booty shorts.”

Renjun pulls on the hem, “They’re not _booty_ – they’re just runner shorts! And I wear them to _sleep_ , Hyuck.”

Donghyuck hitches the boy on his hip a little higher, “And since when do you do literally any form of exercise?”

“They’re _Jeno’s_!”

Speaking of, Jeno emerges from their bedroom, hair sticking upwards angrily, hands over his eyes, still trying to rub the sleepiness away, “What’s with all the yelling –”

 _Oh my god_ , Renjun shuts his eyes.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Donghyuck snorts. Jeno seems to realize that it isn’t just Renjun in the living room then, hands dropping to the sides to find not only their two closest friends staring at him, but also four pairs of eyes glued to his very, very, _very_ shirtless self. Renjun feels a rush of warmth sear down his chest, “Put on a shirt, runner boy, we have children in our midst.”

Jeno’s dashes back into the room in a stumble, and Renjun’s ears burn _red_ on his behalf. He turns to Minhyung, “It was – cold. Last night.”

Minhyung shrugs, “I see Jeno in the shower rooms all the time.”

“Hey, hey,” Donghyuck frowns. “None of that talk.”

Renjun rolls his eyes, “You started it!”

“It’s not my fault your boyfriend just waltzed out all no-shirt,” Donghyuck sniffs primly. “Though I must say, I feel _really_ connected to Jeno right now, like we’ve transcended from being just friends.”

Minhyung makes a face, “Hyuck!”

Renjun groans in mock disgust and hurries into their room to change into clothes suitable for general audiences. He finds Jeno washing up, trying to tame his wild bed hair. He’s still shirtless, which is always a plus point for Renjun, but he can see the shy blush all across Jeno’s neck and shoulders.

“Sorry,” Renjun says, wrapping an arm around Jeno’s waist. He feels Jeno jolt under his touch, relaxing the second after when his mind registers that it’s only Renjun. “They showed up so unexpectedly, I thought we were meeting at the station.”

“It’s okay.” Jeno’s voice is muffled by the towel pressed to his face, “I’ve already burned that memory from my mind.”

Renjun laughs, squeezing Jeno’s side in a way that he hopes is comforting.

“Why are there – children?” Jeno hooks the face towel back up and reaches for his glasses. They’re black and square-framed in a clunky kind of way, but the nerd look has this reverse-effect on Jeno; Renjun doesn’t know how he pulls it off so… handsomely, “Did I count wrongly? Were there two?”

It’s Renjun’s turn to smile apologetically, “There’re four.”

“ _Four_ ,” Jeno balks. “Why’re there four –”

“Long story short: we’re babysitting with Hyuck and Min because we missed out on Hyuck’s party last Christmas.” Renjun watches Jeno slowly absorb the information, “We’re going to the zoo.”

“To the –”

“Yes.” Renjun can hear Donghyuck calling for them to _stop making out and hurry up_. “Dress warmly, okay, it’s freezing out today and you’re still recovering from the flu from last week.”

“Wait, wait –” Jeno steps back (and Renjun wishes he wouldn’t because he’s still very much _shirtless_ and Renjun is in love with the boy), “The four of us are going to the zoo with four kids? Is this – like a man-to-man technique we’re doing?”

“Man-to –” Renjun shakes his head. Now is not the time to discuss football techniques, “Just get changed before Donghyuck comes in here thinking we’ve really spent the entire time making out.”

Jeno raises a brow, “I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of our time here making out.”

“Jeno –”

And then they’re kissing. Renjun weakly admits to himself that he wouldn’t have fought Jeno over it anyway. His presses his palms over Jeno’s chest, warm under his touch, grinning when Jeno shudders. He indulges in himself, letting Jeno kiss him languidly, running his tongue over Renjun’s, tasting like their lemon-fresh toothpaste. Jeno angles to lean Renjun against the corner of their sinks, trapping Renjun in a position he’s happy to be in. Jeno’s glasses knock onto the bridge of Renjun’s nose when he continues to kiss Renjun deep, but neither of them slow from it. Jeno pushes forward, invigorated by the soft noises he manages to pull from Renjun.

“Love you,” Jeno says against his lips, breathing in Renjun’s exhale.

Renjun keeps his eyes screwed shut, “I seriously –” he takes a deep breath, “– can’t believe you just kissed me like that.”

Jeno kisses him again, and Renjun follows blindly with his lips with Jeno pulls away, “You wanted me to.”

“I did.” Renjun sighs, “But we’re not _alone_.”

Jeno cackles, almost maliciously evil, “I love you.”

Renjun pulls Jeno down for another kiss, licking into Jeno’s mouth this time. He tangles his legs with Jeno’s, letting his hands roam down Jeno’s chest and reveling in the way Jeno’s skin moved under his fingers. Jeno’s hands find their way to the hem of Renjun’s shirt, dipping just under to caress at his supple skin, tracing mindless designs. They kiss for a long time, Renjun knows, just enjoying the warmth and touch of each other before the long day ahead. He wishes badly he could take Jeno back to bed, just so they could spend it under the covers, wrapped up in each other. He’s about to bravely suggest it –

– when they hear Donghyuck call for them again, a final warning before he kicks down their door to see for himself, _what the hell is going on in there_.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;-;; i personally... loved this one...


	8. the one at the beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, fluff, 1k+  
> (takes place one weekend at the beach)
> 
> rbahc time period: year 5, march

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **note** : this chapter focuses a lot more on jeno and donghyuck's friendship!

When Jaemin proposed a weekend away, Jeno didn’t expect Renjun to agree to it. Sure, it’s spring break now and almost everyone they know is off at some sort of party in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town, but Jeno thought they were going to spend it at home together, like they always do.

“Well,” Renjun had said, packing his clothes into a duffel bag. “We spend a lot of days together. It’d do us good if we went out and got some sunshine.”

“What about that day trip you wanted to take to the aquarium?”

Renjun shrugged, helping Jeno roll up his socks to save on space, “We’ll go to that another time. Just you and me.”

And Jeno had agreed. It was going to be a weekend-long trip with their family of five; Minhyung and Donghyuck were quick to agree, and Jaemin mentioned bringing that new boy he’d been seeing (Jeno can’t put the name to his face just yet) – it was going to be a fun weekend away.

 

+

 

“I shouldn’t have worn my sneakers out here,” Jaemin groans. He flips his shoe over, watching dejectedly when a stream of sand falls from it.

“I told you,” Donghyuck sighs from where he’s lying under a bright yellow umbrella stuck in the sand. It was one of those planted every few feet in the beach and they managed to snag one just after a massive breakfast back at their Airbnb, courtesy of Renjun and Jeno. “Just go back to the house to change out of them.”

Jaemin clicks his tongue, “It’s too far away.” The two-storey, four-bedroom beach house they managed to score is a fifteen-minute walk from the beach, and while it doesn’t sound _that_ far, the walk back is an uphill trek.

“Get Jisung to get it for you,” Donghyuck says, like it’s the most obvious solution. Jeno hums quietylt to himself; he’d been struggling to remember Jisung’s name the entire car ride up here. “I’m sure if you told him to go back to your apartment to get you a glass of water, he would drive the three hours to do it.”

Jaemin pushes himself to his feet, exhaling loudly, “I can’t even deny it because, well – he would.”

He leaves before Donghyuck can say more, calling Jisung over from where he’d been running around in the shallow waters, taking pictures of the sky and whatever he seemed to find interesting in the sand. They wander off after, Jaemin leading Jisung the way back to the house, just to have someone follow him on the trip there and back.

Jeno scans the beach, spotting Renjun and Minhyung by the far right, in a secluded sort of area away from a group of rowdy children. He squints from behind his sunglasses, trying to make out what kind of sand sculpture they’re making in there. It’s still too lumpy for him to make it out and Jeno can’t really see that far, if he’s being completely honest about his terrible eyesight.

“Hey.” Donghyuck gets to his knees, rummaging in their bags of sunscreen, water, and snacks, to brandish a ukulele Jeno recognizes belongs to Minhyung. “Play something.”

Jeno takes the ukulele by the neck, holding it close to his torso, left hand figuring the chords. He didn’t quite know how the ukulele worked, but he’s fairly good on the guitar and most of it’s mostly just memory work anyway. He strums a few chords and plucks a few strings, so focused on it that he doesn’t notice Donghyuck wiggling over to his beach towel, lying on his back.

“Can I ask you something?” Donghyuck says this when Jeno is strumming slowly, picking at his mind for the title of the song he kept hearing on the ride up here.

“Mm.” Jeno looks at Donghyuck, expecting the boy to be looking at him, but the younger boy has his eyes closed, lips parted just a little as he breathes quietly through his mouth. Jeno distantly wonders when was the last time he’d hung out with Donghyuck, just them two. He was always closer to Minhyung and Jaemin, but Donghyuck _was_ his first friend in elementary year. Jeno’d been hiding himself in the corner of the cafeteria when Donghyuck spotted him. He’d skipped over, his yellow water bottle with a sun patterned lanyard looped around his neck, hand stretched out for Jeno to take. He brought Jeno over to where Jaemin and Renjun were, and the rest was history.

“Do you ever think about –” Donghyuck smacks his lips, “Do you believe in soulmates?”

Jeno runs his tongue over his teeth, “Soulmates?”

“Yeah.” Donghyuck turns over to lie on his stomach, cheek against his palm, elbow propping him up. His gaze is focused on the ukulele resting on Jeno’s thigh. “Do you think Renjun is your soulmate?”

Off the top of his head, Jeno’s answer is _Yes._ Frankly, he didn’t think much about soulmates. It wasn’t a realm he spent any time thinking about, so – he wouldn’t know if Renjun were his soulmate; but he hopes he is.

When Jeno says this, Donghyuck nods, “That’s reasonable.”

He watches Donghyuck trace the _MH_ _♡_ _DH_ etched on the ukulele’s body. Minhyung had won it during his freshman orientation, a race for the fastest lap around the quad. It was the first year he was out living in the residential building on campus, and he was still missing Donghyuck greatly then (since Donghyuck and the rest were finishing up their last year of high school); Yukhei, Minhyung’s roommate at the time, was glad to inform everyone that he’d caught a tear-filled Minhyung scratching _MH_ _♡_ _DH_ into the ukulele with a blunt ballpoint pen in their living room, surrounded by a large tub of chocolate ice cream.

“Do you think Minhyung’s your soulmate?”

Donghyuck nods again, “He doesn’t believe in things like these, and to be honest, I don’t either.” He rolls onto his back and closes his eyes, “But if I did have a soulmate, it’d be Minhyung.”

Jeno spots Renjun and Minhyung take a break from their sandcastle, dusting sand off their swim shorts. Renjun notices him staring and his face brightens in that instant, lifting an arm to give him a huge wave. He points at the growing sandcastle and Jeno stops strumming to return with a thumbs up.

“I can’t imagine it being anyone else,” Donghyuck continues. “I don’t think I want it to be anyone else, but –” Jeno looks back at Donghyuck digging his heels into the sand, “Sometimes I feel like – I’ve used up all my luck in life finding Minhyung. And I’m going to end up with really crap midlife crisis, or something.”

Donghyuck’s frown eases up when Jeno strums the ukulele, “I don’t that’s how life works, Hyuck.”

“I know,” he mumbles. Renjun and Minhyung are still trekking back to them. “I just think about it sometimes.”

Jeno asks slowly, “About being with Minhyung?”

Donghyuck answers immediately, “No.” He rests his hands on his chest, “I want to be with Minhyung – it’s the best thing that’s happened to me. I don’t think I can ever describe it.”

“I don’t know if Jun’s ever told you this,” Jeno says, heat on his neck. Donghyuck cracks an eye open, intrigued. “But before we first got together, I was so – envious of you and Minhyung. Of what you guys had, what you guys have now. I didn’t know what it was then either, I think Renjun might’ve mentioned something about soulmates too, that was, what – three years ago, and I still remember it.” Donghyuck is looking at him now, expression crossing shock and awe. “I can’t describe it either, but I’m just glad – I have that with Jun now. And if you ask me,” Jeno hastens when Renjun and Minhyung approach, “I think Minhyung would use up all of his luck too, if it meant he could find you again.”

Donghyuck’s eyes mist over and Jeno almost feels sorry when Minhyung jogs towards them, sandals kicking in the sand. He drops onto the beach towel beside Donghyuck, talking animatedly to Jeno, “Did you guys see our sandcastle – oh my god, this kid tried to push it down but –” He turns to Donghyuck, blinking widely, “What’s wrong?”

Donghyuck shakes his head, scrambling to sit up and throw his arms around Minhyung’s neck, taking the older boy by surprise. Minhyung yelps and falls back, taking Donghyuck with him, leaving them in a tangled mess of limbs.

“What’s going on?” Renjun asks, sitting close to Jeno’s left. He’s dusting sand off his legs, leaning close to Jeno to keep himself from falling off. “Huh?”

Jeno just smiles, “Nothing.” He kisses Renjun sweetly, tasting a little like the sea, “I love you.”

Renjun looks at Donghyuck still tackling Minhyung, and Minhyung’s bewildered expression. He probably figures he doesn’t have to know anyway, taking another kiss from Jeno, “I love you too.”

And Jeno thinks he’d to do it all over – he’d use up all his luck too, if it meant finding Renjun again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just think jeno and donghyuck have a sweet friendship ;-;;;; and i've been missing markhyuck lately ;;


	9. the one where jeno skips the recital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, fluff, 1k+  
> (takes place before 'runner boy and his cup')
> 
> rbahc time period: year 1, july

“– what? Wait, Jeno, what?”

Minhyung’s voice breaks when Jeno hurries into the elevator. He hears Minhyung speaking through crackled bits, but Jeno doesn’t bother answering until he’s out of the elevator, “I said I’m on my way.”

“To the art exhibition?” Jeno can hear people talking over one another in the background of Minhyung’s call. It fades out a moment later, Minhyung’s voice clearing up, “Here?”

“Yeah.” Jeno crosses the street. If he remembered the building correctly, it isn’t supposed to be all that far from the main subway station. The invite had a little map on the back, but Jeno’d left it in his room – he didn’t think he’d be _going_ for the exhibition. “Which street is it on?”

“The same one as that matcha tea house Jaemin likes so much,” Minhyung answers, probably on reflex, because he’s saying in the next second, “Wait, no – Jeno, what are you doing? Don’t you have Jeonghwan’s recital to go to?”

Jeno winces at the reminder. He sighs, “It’s a four-hour long recital, Min, I’m really – just not going to go to that.” And before Minhyung can remind him at how that’s not _nice_ of Jeno, seeing as he _is_ Jeonghwan’s boyfriend, he rushes to add, “And this is a bigger deal than some school recital! Donghyuck told me!”

Minhyung groans, “Jeno –”

“Is this art exhibition – where there’re going to be art professors from the state university looking at our best friends’ paintings! – a bigger deal or is the _high school’s_ singing recital a bigger deal, Min.” Jeno shoves a hand into his jacket pocket. It’s July and the weather’s still warm, but Jeno doesn’t know if that’s the reason it feels like his skin’s on fire. “I’m already halfway there anyway.”

“Okay, first of all,” Minhyung sniffs, “Donghyuck’s my _boyfriend_ now.”

Jeno rolls his eyes, and he knows Minhyung knows he just did, but he tacks that to his mental notepad. As much as the group of them saw it coming, Minhyung and Donghyuck always gravitated to one another, it was a matter of _when_ they were going to get together, Jeno still needed a little time to see them as a _couple_. It was only a few days after they’d told the group of their new relationship status did Jeno get asked out by Jeonghwan.

“And second of all,” Minhyung sighs, “Jeonghwan is your _girlfriend_ , Jeno – is coming to see us a bigger deal than going to see your girlfriend sing?”

Jeno grimaces, “She’s a bad singer.”

“Jeno!” Minhyung clicks his tongue, “I – why are you dating her? You don’t sound like you like her at all.”

“I don’t know,” Jeno answers honestly. He spots the sign to the tea house, “She asked me out, I said okay.”

Minhyung makes a baffled noise, “Why did you say okay if you didn’t like her back?”

“I don’t know.” Jeno pinches the bridge of his nose, “I don’t know, Min.”

“Jeno –”

“I know,” Jeno says finally. “I shouldn’t – yeah, I’ll tell her – I’m not that interested in her, I guess.”

Minhyung snorts, “I don’t think you’re going to have to break up with her if she finds out you skipped her recital to hang out with us – she’ll probably break up with before you can do it.”

And when they hang up, Jeno tries not to think about why the idea of breaking up with his girlfriend doesn’t worry him at all.

 

+

 

The exhibition is in a small building by an alley leading out to the main road. It’s on the third floor, Jeno remembers, taking the stairs two at the time. A sign greets him the moment he gets on the landing, pointing him towards the right end of the hallway. Immediately he’s greeted by a receptionist, one of the seniors from the art classes, Jeno notes, and she hands him a bi-fold pamphlet. He flips it open to find a layout of the exhibition provided inside, dotted with students’ names and the titles of their pieces. He follows the winding maze of art – some are colorful, some are not, some are sculptures, some are photographs – eyes purely focused on the names by his pointer finger, _Lee Donghyuck (‘Just This Once’)_ and _Huang Renjun (‘The Garden’)_.

He hears them before he sees them, Jaemin’s piercing whine and Donghyuck’s adamant accusations. He can’t make out what they’re saying just yet, but his heart’s already beating twice as fast. _Right_ , he bites on his lower lips. _It’s just because it’s – a surprise_.

Donghyuck spots him first. “I can’t believe it, Lee Jeno.”

Jaemin whirls on his heels, gawking when he sees that Jeno really _did_ skip the recital to… come hang out with them. His lips curl into a sinister grin, “Oh, you’re _definitely_ going be single by Monday.”

“Shut up,” Jeno rolls his eyes, walking to join them where they’re standing by Donghyuck and Renjun’s art. “I wasn’t going to sit through four hours just to watch her sing for two minutes.”

“Ouch,” Jaemin feigns a look of hurt, “You might as well text her right now to break up with her before her performance.” He adds, “Y’know, to save her the pain from trying to find you in the crowd.”

“I already did,” Jeno sighs. He did; between the tea house and the next traffic light, he texted Jeonghwan that he was sorry he wouldn’t be able to make it, that he was going to an art exhibition instead. He at _least_ still had some sense in him to, no matter how last minute it was.

“And?” Donghyuck stares at him. “What did she say?”

Jeno hadn’t checked for any reply.

“Alright, alright,” Minhyung steps between them, a flat Coke in his hand. “Jeno’s already here and there’s nothing else we can do about his poor dating choices alright –” Jeno groans inwardly, “Let’s just – have a good time and we can go for dinner, which,” Minhyung turns to tell Jeno, “Jaemin will be paying for because he lost a bet to Donghyuck.”

Jaemin shakes his head, “That was _not_ fair game, you can’t be referee, Minhyung, you’re _dating_ Donghyuck.”

“Don’t be annoying,” Donghyuck elbows Jaemin in the sides, “That’s got nothing to do with –”

“Jeno?” It’s almost comical, the way they all turn at Renjun’s voice. He’s standing behind Jeno, eyes almost impossibly big, staring up at Jeno as if he couldn’t quite believe his own eyes. “What are you – doing here?”

“Well, I –”

“He ditched his girlfriend to come hang out with his friends,” Jaemin provides.

“ _No_ ,” Jeno grits his teeth. He turns back to Renjun, explaining carefully, “You and Donghyuck worked really hard on these paintings, I wanted to come and show some support.”

Renjun’s lips fall into a small _o_ , “Well, then – thank you. For coming today.” He smiles, “And I’m sure Jeonghwan will understand.”

Jeno ignores the way his shoulders lift at Renjun’s words, “Really?”

Renjun grins, “Nope.” Jeno deflates, and Renjun laughs. He walks towards where his oil painting is hanging by the wall, an intricate, realistic rendition of what Jeno remembers is Renjun’s actual back yard. “I mean, she’ll get over it, obviously, but doesn’t this just tell you – I don’t know, that you never really liked her in the first place?”

Jeno sighs, guilt starting to eat at him, “I guess.”

“Either way,” Renjun takes a sip from his cup. “I’m glad you came today. It means a lot to me,” he corrects, pointing at Donghyuck, “To Donghyuck and I.”

And it’s something about the way his best friend’s smiling that Jeno says, “I’m glad I came too.” On the tip of his tongue, _it feels like I made the right choice._

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeno's a nice boy! ;-;;''''


	10. the one where the football flies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, fluff, 1k+  
> (takes place one week after 'runner boy and his cup')
> 
> rbahc time period: year 2, february

If it’s one thing Renjun’s learnt in the past week, it’s when something’s bothering Jeno. Not that it’s any hard to notice when Jeno’s in a sulky mood; his usual cheerful disposition is muted with a hardened expression, the corner of his lips pulled down into a tight frown, and his hands won’t leave the fraying ends of the bracelet around his left wrist. If he kept it up, Renjun wouldn’t be surprised if it started to unravel on its own.

“Here! I’m open!”

Renjun pulls his eyes off his history reading (at this point, he’s read the same sentence five times over so there’s really no point in trying anymore), just in time to catch someone kick a football down the hall. Two others run after it and the classroom adjacent to theirs explodes in a celebratory cheer. Renjun bites back a sigh and returns his focus to his reading. He has an essay on it due within the week and he should’ve started on it last week, but considering what was happening _then_ , the deadline was very easily left in the back of his mind.

“Me! Me!”

The football flies down the hall again. Renjun sighs aloud this time, and Jeno stops toying with his bracelet, “Should we go someplace else?”

Renjun shakes his head. He leans back into the seat (Jaemin’s, Jeno said), stretching his arms and back, groaning when he hears a crick, “It’s okay. I know I’m not going to finish this today.”

“I forgot the football team has training today too,” Jeno mumbles, looking out the windows of the classroom. They run by again, “It isn’t this noisy usually.”

“It’s alright,” Renjun follows Jeno’s gaze out into the hall. He turns to look at Jeno again, “I said I’d wait with you.”

Jeno slumps forward, reaching to take Renjun’s hand in his, “But if you’re busy –”

“I’m not,” Renjun reassures. He looks to the wall clock, “We should probably head to the track.”

Jeno nods, and he lets Renjun’s hand drop. They pack their things up quietly, trading small smiles before heading out into the hall. Renjun itches to grab onto Jeno’s hand to lace their fingers, but they hadn’t yet told anyone about… recent events. He tucks his hands into his pockets lest his body can override his mind; he didn’t know yet how public Jeno wanted to be about _them_.

“Oh, hold on –” Jeno turns on his heels, “I told Minhyung I’d bring him Jaemin’s watch – he left it under his desk for Min.”

Renjun waits by the door, watching Jeno jog back to Jaemin’s desk, shifting through papers and textbooks for the sports watch Renjun assumes Minhyung wanted to borrow for their run later.

It all happens pretty fast.

“Watch out!”

Renjun, to his credit, didn’t think they were referring to him. He feels an arm on his waist, yanking him forward roughly. And in that same second, a rush of wind passes him and there’s the sound of someone crashing to the ground. He stumbles along anyway, following the arm on his waist, not really sure if his legs were working enough to stop it from happening. His hands shoot out in front of him before he could meet the linoleum floor.

Though, his palms land on something softer instead. Renjun jerks his head up to see an unfamiliar face staring down at him, an expression matching the shock in Renjun’s chest. The boy is taller, maybe taller than Jaemin, and he has brown hair and dark eyes. Renjun hasn’t ever seen him before; it might be a senior.

“Are you okay?” He asks, righting Renjun, whose limbs had uselessly frozen. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to grab you like that – but the football –”

“It’s okay,” Renjun scrambles to untangle himself. He brushes his hair away from his eyes, catching his breath, “I mean, thanks.”

He smiles, “You’re one of Minhyung’s friends, aren’t you?”

Renjun blinks. He’s still reeling from almost being squashed by a flying football, “Uh – yeah, I –”

“Jun.”

Renjun doesn’t get to turn around, because an arm around his waist again, a little lower on his hip. It’s embarrassing how Renjun can tell it’s Jeno just from his touch and the smell of his strawberry shampoo.

“Oh, hey, Jeno.”

“Hey.” Renjun’s face flushes when Jeno steps even closer, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Renjun swallows thickly; the tension is palpable. “Yeah.”

“Let’s go,” Jeno says. He steps to the right, hand most _definitely_ holding on to Renjun now.

“Wait, sorry –” They’re stopped. “I didn’t catch your name?”

Renjun revels in the way Jeno’s fingers dig into his hip. _Oh my god_ , “Huang Renjun.”

“Choi Jinho,” he sticks his hand out for a handshake.

Renjun feels Jeno stiffen beside him when he shakes Jinho’s hand cordially. He lets it drop; Jeno stands a little straighter. He smiles warmly, “It was nice meeting you, and – thanks. For – you know –”

“That’s okay,” Choi Jinho smiles. Jeno’s grip tightens. Renjun lets himself enjoy how ridiculously flashy it must look, “I’ll see you around?”

Renjun nods, letting Choi Jinho step out of the way before he lets Jeno lead him out of the hallway (and away from any more flying footballs). He says nothing, hobbling together like they’re attached at the hip until they’re in the stairwell and the door is shut behind them.

Jeno doesn’t release him, and Renjun can’t hide how pleased that makes him.

“Are you okay?” Jeno asks after another round of silence.

Renjun knows it’s best not to laugh. He wouldn’t appreciate it if the tables were turned, “Are you?”

Jeno doesn’t answer that. His jaw tightens when Renjun pulls away, eyes finally lifting to meet Renjun’s. His mouth falls open, but it closes again when Renjun reaches up to cup his cheek gently. _Say something_ , his face reads.

“What are you worrying about?” Renjun strokes the high of Jeno’s cheek with his thumb, “You’ve been – quiet, all afternoon.”

Jeno gnaws on his bottom lip. His hands return to Renjun’s hips, but it’s lighter this time, softer and holding no flashiness. Renjun likes Jeno’s touch like this too. He squeezes once and Renjun bites back the urge to shudder, “I was just thinking.”

Renjun nods.

“About – us.” For that brief second, Renjun thinks if Jeno weren’t holding him the way he is, his heart would’ve dropped all three floors and gone straight to hell. “I – I want to say something.”

“Okay,” Renjun can’t deny the bubble of worry in his gut. “What is it?”

“No, I mean –” Jeno collects Renjun into a hug, hiding his face away. Renjun breathes a small sigh of relief – _god_ – and snakes his arms to wind around Jeno’s neck, hugging the boy tight. “I want to tell people – about us.”

Renjun fixates his gaze to the fire alarm on the ceiling, “You do?”

“Yeah.”

The stairwell is quiet, but Renjun’s sure his heartbeat is loud enough to echo off the walls. Jeno hugs him a little tighter, “I – just want people to know.”

Renjun’s voice weakens, “You do?”

“Yeah.” He presses his nose into Renjun’s shoulder, breathing deeply, “Do you want to? Because if you’re not ready – we don’t have to. I just – I was just thinking about it.”

Renjun pulls away, and Jeno does too, albeit reluctantly. So Renjun kisses him quickly to rid the frown lines forming, “I do. I just – are you sure?” He studies Jeno carefully, who, in turn, is watching him just as close. “It might… change things.”

“Like what?”

The corner of Renjun’s lips twitch. “Like how your locker won’t be filled with Valentines’ day gifts anymore? Or how you might not get mysterious love letters during your birthday?”

Jeno is unimpressed.

Renjun rolls his eyes, “I’m kidding!” He kisses him again, “Of course, I want to tell people about us, Jeno. I think – I think I’ve had enough sneaking around to last a lifetime. All my lifetimes.”

“Then let’s do it.” Jeno’s eargerness is contagious; Renjun feels it in his fingertips, “Plus – this just means _you’re_ going to have to fill my locker up. I’ll be expecting that.”

Renjun pinches him lightly, “Actually, I’m pretty sure you’d still get love notes every now and then. You get them all the time.”

Jeno grins, “Are you jealous?”

Renjun narrows his eyes, “ _You’re_ one to talk.”

It makes Jeno sulk, remembering the last ten minutes, so Renjun kisses him again, sweetly, to rid the memory. Jeno pulls away first, planting another chaste kiss to Renjun’s lips before asking, “Who should we tell first?”

They ponder it for only half a second before agreeing in unison, “Hyuck.”

Renjun winces, “He might actually kill me when he finds out I told Jaemin first.”

“Well, technically,” Jeno traces comforting circles against Renjun’s hipbone. “He already guessed that you were crushing really hard on me so –”

“Really?” Renjun raises a brow, “‘Crushing really hard’?”

“Were you not?”

Renjun scoffs, pulling away from their little embrace, “Guess I’ll go have another chat with that nice senior, Choi Jin–”

“Hey, wait –” Jeno grabs onto him again, spinning Renjun around to greet him with a pout so petulant that Renjun can’t help but smile. Jeno frowns, “Don’t – do that.”

“Do what?”

“Be interested in other people.”

Renjun laughs, “I can’t be _interested_ in other – does this include making new friends or…?”

“You know what I mean,” Jeno leans close. All the challenge in Renjun’s dies in that instant and he wishes he weren’t so susceptible by Jeno’s every breath. “We just started _dating_ dating, and I –”

Renjun, as much as he wants to hear how greedy Jeno is over him, doesn’t want to see the sadness etched in his boyfriend’s face, “I know, Jeno.” He tucks a stray strand of hair behind Jeno’s ear, hand lingering there for a second longer, “I know. I feel – the same way about you too.”

Jeno gives him a skeptical look. Slowly, he accuses, “It doesn’t seem like it.”

“I’ve just –” Renjun blushes at the thought of his words, “I’ve been handling this – for longer than you have.” _For a long time_ , “Every time you got a love letter in freshmen year, or a box of chocolates on your birthday…” The sadness in Jeno’s eyes returns, and Renjun stops the apology from tumbling out, “But that’s all in the past. And I – you’re my boyfriend now, and that’s all I care about, Jeno.”

Jeno deflates anyway, “I don’t feel like training anymore – let’s just go for ice cream.”

“But your runs – Coach Choi –”

“I’ll just tell him I’m not feeling well, I can –”

“I’ll wait for you, Jeno,” Renjun says. “We can get dinner and ice cream after training – I’m not going anywhere; I’ll wait for you.”

Jeno sighs, surrendering, “Okay.” He intertwines their fingers, “You’re sure?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Renjun squeezes their hands. “I’m sure.” He notices Jeno still frowning, “But if you take too long, I might come back up here and –”

“Renjun!”

“I’m _kidding_!” He grabs Jeno by the cheeks and kisses him soundly, laughing into it when Jeno grumbles against his lips. He kisses back only when Renjun jabs him in the ribs, smiling in a begrudging sort of way, but he’s smiling nevertheless and Renjun takes it.

 

 

 

 

 

(And thinking back, Renjun thinks this moment is the first time he’s ever thought, _I love you_.

But he stored that away for another time, too focused on telling the world about his new boyfriend, Lee Jeno.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's all for jeno's birthday this year! (see you all... next year) ;-;;''
> 
> find me on twitter! oftentimes i post shorts or drabbles on there so :,)


	11. the one by the great lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> renjun/jeno, slight angst, 1k+  
> (takes place in an alternate universe!)
> 
> hp/rbachc au pt. 2
> 
> rbahc time period: not applicable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **note:** this chapter is _not_ part of the rbahc universe ;; it's an alternate universe within rbahc - anything from this chapter will not affect works that are actually in rbahc's universe.
> 
> continued from [chapter three](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561019/chapters/44000887)

“Where are we going?”

Renjun follows Not Jeno down the maze of hallways, large and arching. He’s never seen buildings like these before; only in books and in the movies.

“To the Great Lake,” Not Jeno says. _Herbology,_ Renjun repeats inwardly. Not Jeno takes a quick turn on the left, and Renjun struggles to follow–the robes are too heavy on his shoulders, “It’s too cold for classes to be held there this time of the year. We’ll be hidden.”

Renjun keeps up, “And you know this–”

Not Jeno looks over his shoulder, smiles again that tight smile, “Jun and I go there all the time.” He turns away, “Where our friends can’t find us.”

The prick in his heart returns, “Right.” Not Jeno leads them out to a wide field, and Renjun spots a lake in the distance. He shivers when a cold breeze comes running by, but Not Jeno is waving his wand–his _wand_ –at him then, and Renjun feels enveloped him warmth once more. It tingles at his skin, and he thinks _This must be magic._

“How did you get here?” Not Jeno asks. He holds a hand out for Renjun to take while they trek over uneven bits of soil, but Renjun holds onto Not Jeno’s elbow instead. Hand-holding seemed–too intimate, in a way. Not Jeno doesn’t say anything about the covert rejection. “Are you sure you haven’t just been oblivated?”

Renjun blanks, “Obliterated?”

Not Jeno purses his lips, “That’s a no then.” To Renjun’s silent question, he explains, “Obliviate. It’s a spell that takes away your memories. It wouldn’t hurt your knowledge of magic, I don’t think.”

The nausea returns, “You can take away someone’s memories?”

“You can get them back too,” Not Jeno says softly, reassuringly. “Magic isn’t scary.”

“I would disagree with that,” Renjun lets go of Not Jeno’s arm when they’re safely on flat ground. He can’t deny that the view of the lake is one to admire, but he can’t be wasting time thinking about that for now. “I seem to be stuck in a world I don’t belong in.”

Not Jeno stares at him oddly, “But you do belong here, Jun.”

Renjun tears his eyes from the enamoring view, “I’m not–I’m not him, Jeno. I’m not–the person you know. I’m not–your Renjun.”

“I know that,” Not Jeno looks away. “Sorry, I–I didn’t know why I said that.” Renjun folds his arms across his chest, begs his body not to reach out and hug Not Jeno, even if the sight of Not Jeno– _any_ Jeno–is enough to have his will falter. “I guess, it’s just–being here with you. I mean, it was our thing. My Renjun and I.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Renjun says. And he truly is. “I don’t know why I’m here either.”

“He must’ve done something,” Not Jeno says, with a laugh that Renjun doesn’t know what to make of. He picks up a rock and skips it across the lake. Renjun doesn’t know if his own Jeno knew how to do that. “He loved meddling with spells. He was always coming up with new variation of Potion, new improvements to Charms,” he says it fondly, but with a hint of sharpness. Like he knew his Renjun would end up in a situation like this.

“Sorry,” Renjun says again. Then adds, “On his behalf.”

That makes Not Jeno laugh, “It’s not your fault.” He takes a deep breath, and Renjun follows, calming himself. Not Jeno gives him a side glance, “Do you think–do you think he’s okay?”

Renjun seriously considers it. Would Not Renjun wake up in bed too? In bed with Jeno? Would he be confused? What would Jeno say? Would they get along like how he’s getting along with Not Jeno? Or would they argue, knowing that Not Renjun’s the one to have caused this mess?

“I don’t know,” Renjun tells him. “But I hope he is.”

Not Jeno sighs, “I hope so too.”

Clueless, Renjun asks the inevitable, “What should we do now?”

“I don’t know,” Not Jeno repeats back to him. He runs a hand through his hair, “I can’t go to any of the professors about this, unless we really have to–they’ll expel him if we do, and I don’t know if they’ll report him to the Ministry if we do.” Renjun nods, figuring the _Ministry_ is some sort of government entity, “He has a secret stash of books in his trunk, hidden with an Extension Charm–we could start by looking through that first, to see what he’s been studying.”

“Okay.” Renjun thumbs at his robes, feeling less and less foreign on him. “What about Hyuck? And Jaemin and Minhyung? Can we tell them? Ask them for help?”

Not Jeno stares at him. He seems to debate what to say, “That’s–up to you.”

Renjun doesn’t follow, “What?”

“Well,” Not Jeno picks up another stone. He turns it over in his hands, “It was your idea–us, practicing. Keeping it a secret.”

_Jesus Chri–_

Not Jeno skips the stone, “I don’t think Renjun–the one from here, I don’t think he would want his friends to know. Telling them–it would mean our secret, us–”

“Aren’t you friends with them too?” Renjun steps closer, hand practically shaking to have Jeno _please hold him_. Not telling Hyuck, Jaemin, Minhyung–it was all his idea? That can’t be.

“Not exactly,” Not Jeno says. “We’re acquaintances, at best.” He regards Renjun with curiosity, “Are we friends? From the dimension you’re from?”

It’s barely a whisper, “Best friends.”

He can’t imagine Jeno not having Minhyung by his side during trainings, not having to accompany Jaemin on trips to find the best coffee bean roasters in the most obscure parts of the city, not having Donghyuck to talk him through their musings on life and love.

“Oh.”

Renjun hates the look of dejection on Not Jeno’s face, hates it as much as he would hate it if his Jeno were just as troubled, “Let’s tell them.”

Not Jeno blinks, “What?”

“Let’s tell them.” Renjun gestures to the space between them, “About this. Us. Whatever we are in this dimension.”

“But Renjun wouldn’t–”

“If he’s anything like me,” Renjun says, “he’d want to tell them too.”

Not Jeno shakes his head, “You don’t understand. Renjun only wants to practice–”

“I _don’t_.” Renjun bites on his lips, “I mean–your Renjun doesn’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

Renjun considers this. “I don’t,” he admits, “But if it were up to me, in every dimension I’d want to be with you Jeno.” He nearly doubles over saying this, his mind is _fooling_ him. This isn’t his Jeno–this is–this is some variation of his Jeno, it isn’t–

“I’d want to be with you too.” Not Jeno corrects, honorably almost, “With my Renjun. And you, with your Jeno, however similar or different to me he may be.”

“Right,” Renjun says. He looks at the view once more, wishes he could share something so magical with Jeno. In a morbid sort of way, he _is_ sharing it with Jeno, though not his runnerboy Jeno.

“So, we should tell them?” Not Jeno still sounds unsure, “About us? Everything?”

“Everything.” Renjun sighs, “If I want to go back to where I came from, I imagine I need all the help I can get.”

“Okay,” Not Jeno breathes, “okay.”

“I’m sure they’ll like you,” Renjun offers, albeit uselessly. Based off the brief morning and interactions he’s had with Not Donghyuck and Not Jaemin, Renjun thinks their similar enough to the ones he knows back home. “And even if they don’t, the circumstances call for something more than just an effort to build a new friendship,” he pauses, “I hope they’ll help me get home.”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

Renjun shrugs, “I’m not their friend. They could just turn me in to your minister, and–”

“Ministry.” Not Jeno laughs lightly, “The Ministry of Magic.”

“Yeah, that.” Renjun looks up to the blue sky, and it reminds him too much of the same sky he’d look to while waiting for Jeno to finish up training.

Not Jeno exhales, long and soft. He whispers, “Huang Renjun.” When Renjun turns to answer, he sees Not Jeno looking up at the sky too, not at all speaking to him, but speaking to his Renjun, wherever he may be, “What have you gotten us into now?”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a chapter requested from my round two of roulettes, but i figured to post it here for continuity purposes


	12. the one where jeno comes home drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, fluff, 2k (kissing, making out)  
> (takes place some time after they're really settled in their relationship)
> 
> rbahc time period: year 5, august

The apartment is empty.

Renjun’s ear perk up at the sound of the ceiling fan clicking away, but he ignores it–it doesn’t bother him as much as it used to. Restless, he pulls the comforter higher up to his chin, trying his best to get comfortable, but the bed is just too cold tonight. It’s only after moments more that he’s rolling himself out of bed, yielding to the idea of making himself a cup of hot chocolate.

He meets with darkness in the hallway, tracing along the wall as he goes, his eyes adjusting slowly. The marble tiles are cool against his feet, and Renjun distantly wonders if they should invest in one of those robot-vacuum things to save on manually doing it every now and then.

Addled with a kind of tiredness that doesn’t warrant him sleep, he slowly gets the tin of Cadbury milk chocolate powder from one of the upper cabinets and moves to start boiling some water. While he waits, he sits by the dining table, too lazy to take ten steps back into the bedroom for his phone.

He rests his cheek on the table, sighing softly. The clock on the microwave tells him it’s some time past three.

“I should message him,” Renjun mumbles, but doesn’t move. To himself, “Just to check up–on him.”

He shivers at nothing and hugs himself tightly. He seriously considers texting Jeno, just to make sure he and his track teammates aren’t passed out drunk somewhere, but he decides against it–Jeno promised to be home by four anyway.

Before leaving that evening, he’d asked Renjun over and over to come along tonight, but Renjun refused. He didn’t know whose birthday they were celebrating and he didn’t exactly want to spend his Friday night out in some club.

“I don’t either,” Jeno had said. He’s already dressed in a black shirt and tight skinny jeans, sidling up to Renjun where Renjun’s seated cross-legged on the floor, “Won’t you miss me when I’m gone?”

“I will.” Renjun reminded him, “But you’ll be here in the morning.”

Months ago, it would’ve bothered him to stay home alone, but he’s grown accustomed to it now. It always felt better to have Jeno in the apartment with him–tinkering about the kitchen for food, humming to himself while trying to get some work done, the occasional sigh he lets out when he’s bored, draping himself all over the apartment.

Home has always felt more _alive_ with Jeno in it.

“Okay,” Jeno mumbled. He kissed Renjun on the cheek before he left, “Love you. Don’t wait up for me.”

Renjun didn’t think he’d still be awake, but clearly, he was so terribly wrong.

He’s wondering about the actual number of minutes it takes for water to boil when the kettle starts to whistle. Lethargically, he shuffles to take the kettle off the stove, only to put it back down when he hears the door unlock loudly.

“I’m home!”

Renjun blinks. 

If he hadn’t already been awake, that surely would’ve done the job.

He hears Jeno stumble around the entryway, the sound of his shoulders bumping against the walls as he draws closer. Renjun waits until Jeno finally appears by the threshold to the kitchen, breaking into a smile when he sees the current state his loving boyfriend is in.

Positively drunk out of his mind, that is.

And it’s a sight Renjun doesn’t usually get to see because Jeno doesn’t take alcohol often, so every time he _does_ get a chance to interact with an intoxicated version of Jeno–he makes sure to have a little bit of fun.

“Welcome home,” he says, forgetting about the hot chocolate or the tough time sleeping. It’s another one of those effects Jeno has on him–tuning out the world to focus only on one Lee Jeno.

“You’re here,” Jeno says. He sniffles noisily, “You.”

“I am.” Renjun closes the distance to help Jeno out of his leather jacket; it’s already falling off the boy’s shoulders but he seems unaware of it. From this close, he smells the sweat and alcohol (and nicotine, but that’s not something Renjun’s concerned with), “Did you have fun?”

“Yes.” Jeno bounces on his toes and slinks away when Renjun finally gets the jacket off him. He moves to wander around the kitchen, “Jinyoung left his card at the bar so we drank everything they had there.”

Renjun leaves the jacket on the back of the chair, “Did you now? Everything?”

“Almost everything,” Jeno amends. He grabs a cup off the drying rack and pours himself water from the tap; Renjun watches, deems Jeno alright enough to handle breakable mugs. “I had a lot of drinks and most of them were, like, you know–the usual cocktails, but then they had five-dollar highballs and it wasn’t like _I_ needed to pay anyway since it’s Jinyoung’s birthday and we were all pretty drunk by then because we drank first at Hyunjin’s place, but the Uber took so long and when we–”

Renjun listens with amusement. As much as he’s used to living with chatterboxes–Lee Donghyuck and Na Jaemin, yes–he wonders if he’ll ever think differently if Jeno were like this daily. He did love listening to Jeno speak–he loved it when Jeno breathed, really–so maybe a talkative Jeno isn’t such a difference he’d mind all that much.

“–and _then_ we were thinking of going to another club, but we didn’t want to pay another fee, you know?” Jeno downs the last of his water and turns the tap on again. He grabs the sponge and detergent bottle, lathering the cup with an obnoxious amount of soap.

He doesn’t seem to notice it, starting to scrub at the cup fervently as he continued to speak, “So we stayed at the same club and someone–I don’t know who–asked if we could get a booth and I didn’t even know the club _had_ booths.”

Renjun blinks at the bubble forming in Jeno’s hands.

“But then they _gave_ us a booth!” Jeno squishes the sponge as he cleans and, as Renjun’s about to step in before they clog the sink up with bubbles, he turns the tap on again and lets the water kill the bubbles off. He flings his hands dry and wipes them on his shirt, “And they gave us a bottle of champagne but I don’t know–well, actually, we might have ordered it.” He pauses, hands on his hips, “Wait. Did I order it?”

Renjun can’t help but laugh, “You need to get to bed, baobei.”

“Okay,” Jeno nods seriously. He glances around the kitchen, “But we should pack up before leaving the hotel.”

_The hotel–_

“Jeno, wait–”

Without warning, Jeno starts to pack up–horribly wrongly. He takes the dishwashing soap and shoves it in the fridge, tin of Cadbury chocolate powder into the cupboard under the sink, and the packet of biscuits Renjun’d taken out–into the trashcan.

He’s about to reach for the kettle when Renjun rushes to stop him.

“No, no, no,” he says, grabbing Jeno’s grabby hands and steering him away before he hurts himself, “This is still hot, okay?”

Jeno looks down at him, “You think I’m hot?”

Renjun stills, only for a second, Jeno’s words driving some sort of error through his brain. He rolls his eyes and starts to lead Jeno down the hall, “I said the kettle was hot. Not you.”

“You don’t think I’m hot?” Jeno babbles, “No, I think you do think I’m hot. You think I’m hot, don’t you think?” Renjun opens his mouth to answer but Jeno is hugging him now, sticking himself to Renjun as they turn into the bedroom for the bathroom, “I see you stare at me, Huang Renjun. You stare at me like you think I’m _hot_.”

“How much have you had to drink?” Renjun mutters.

“Not much,” Jeno shrugs, sitting heavily on closed toilet seat when Renjun maneuvers him so.

“Right,” Renjun says.

He leaves Jeno side for a second, just to wet a face towel to help Jeno clean up, but Jeno disapproved of his, unsteadily rising to his feet again.

“Baby.” Renjun clicks his tongue when he sees Jeno on the move in the mirror, “You’re drunk, Jeno, please sit down so that I can–”

He tastes the alcohol on Jeno’s tongue when they kiss. Jeno has him spun around and their lips locked in the second after, like predator and prey. Renjun doesn’t bother fighting it, dropping the towel and sighing into the kiss, pleased. The bitterness in Jeno’s mouth is mild, tasting like vodka and whiskey at the same time, and Renjun doesn’t like it all that much–this way, he can’t taste the sweetness he always does when they kiss.

“Am I hot?” Jeno asks, leaning close and closer to have Renjun swaying over the sink. He towers over Renjun but steadies him with a hand on his back, holding him here.

Renjun finds purchase in Jeno’s shirt, speaking through the wet kisses Jeno insist on giving him, “You’re hot, you know that.” He kisses a little harder, pushing his tongue in to lick at Jeno’s, “Loads of people think you’re hot.”

“But do you?” Jeno props a leg snugly between Renjun’s, the pressure far too good for three in the morning.

Renjun can’t find it in himself to be bothered to answer. He’s too preoccupied with how warm Jeno is against him; his chest, his hands, his thighs, his lips–everything feels so _solid_ and Renjun can’t think of anything else.

“Am I hot to you?”

Renjun nods, just to get Jeno to _stop_ talking because his lips keep moving and it’s making kissing a job harder to do. He parts his mouth, a silent request, and he groans when Jeno takes it. He squirms, heart beating so incredibly loud in his ears when Jeno reaches between them to take Renjun by the wrist.

Wickedly, he leads Renjun’s hand under his shirt and Renjun can’t help but gasp into the kiss when he feels the faint lines of Jeno’s muscles against his palm.

“Tell me,” Jeno mumbles. He drags Renjun’s hand up his torso, whispers, “ _Renjun_.”

Renjun moans, feeling a flush of embarrassment rise in his cheeks, hopes Jeno won’t remember this in the morning. Then again, he can’t possibly be worried about this _now_.

And for gods sake–he wants.

He’s always wanted.

Jeno steals his breath away again with another electrifying kiss, licking lewdly into Renjun’s mouth.

_Maybe–_

Maybe now’s the time to tell Jeno–that _gods,_ he really, _really_ wants.

“You’re hot,” he whispers, starting to let his hands wander the firm planes of Jeno’s chest, “The hottest.”

And then–like lightening–

Jeno steps away. He has this–this _goofy_ grin on his face and Renjun’d be a lot angrier if he weren’t having such a hard time breathing.

“We should go to bed,” Jeno hums.

For a good second, Renjun thinks Jeno to be sober. But then his boyfriend is stumbling away again, hand missing the toothbrush in the holder. He laughs to himself before picking it up and grappling for the tube of toothpaste.

Renjun believes he must’ve been some sort of evil mastermind in his past life to be tortured like this.

“Whoops,” Jeno says, sounding as loopy as he’ll ever be. He drops the tube of toothpaste and shoves the toothpaste-less toothbrush into his mouth.

Then, he waits.

Renjun takes a minute–maybe even more than that–to level his heart-rate. Something bitter in him says to just have Jeno sleep in the bathroom tonight for having left Renjun hanging like that, but–he _is_ drunk. He probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing–he probably won’t even remember it in the morning.

“Come on,” Renjun sighs, taking the toothbrush out of Jeno’s mouth. “You can go a night without brushing your teeth, baobei.”

“Hmm,” Jeno nods.

And, in one swift motion, he strips himself of his shirt and Renjun loses his breath all over again, because _dear gods and heavens above_ –Renjun wants. Renjun has always wanted and this–this three in the morning and Jeno being as sober as a lightbulb situation is absolutely _not_ in his favor.

“Bed,” Jeno agrees. He wobbles the entire way there because Renjun refuses to land him a hand–a small enough punishment for being so much of a tease, no matter how unintentional. He flops on to it unceremoniously and rolls over. He looks at Renjun expectantly.

“What?”

Jeno bites on his lip, “Pants.”

“ _What_?”

Jeno unbuttons his jeans and Renjun’s jaw drops to the seventh level of hell. “I can’t sleep with them on,” Jeno whines, starting to shimmy them down his hips, “Help me?”

It’s hardly the first they’ve slept in so little clothes, but Jeno being this drunk and promiscuous–Renjun feels steam coming out of his ears, red to the tip. Setting his own wants aside, he remains a good boyfriend and yanks Jeno’s jeans off for him, revealing slender, thin legs that Renjun has to avert his eyes from.

“Thank you,” Jeno calls, when Renjun returns from tossing Jeno’s pants into the laundry hamper. His stops Renjun from coming into bed, hand against Renjun’s chest, “Wait.”

Renjun swallows nervously, “What now?”

“Take your shirt off,” Jeno says, so plainly as if he were talking about brunch. He tsks when Renjun doesn’t, “It’s not fair if I have to sleep shirtless.”

“You took your own shirt off, Jeno.”

“Still.” Jeno pouts, “Hmm?”

“You’re so–” Renjun grumbles as he rids his own shirt, shuddering at the cool air. He swats Jeno’s hand away and dices under the covers. Immediately, Jeno is squirming towards him, inching close until they’re kissing again.

Renjun kisses back, albeit begrudgingly, but gives in when he’s reminded of how soft Jeno’s lips feel against his.

“Goodnight,” Jeno whispers, giving him one last kiss. He’s ducking his head low and cuddling against Renjun’s chest before Renjun can even think to protest.

Sighing, Renjun forgets about wanting for now. He cards his fingers into Jeno’s hair and caresses it softly, listening to Jeno breathe. In the morning, he’ll be sure to tell Jeno about this–just about the cup and the detergent and the hot chocolate, that is–but for now, he’s content with lying in a warm bed and watching the fan above him whir.

It clicks, as it always does, but, with Jeno in his arms, Renjun falls asleep before he can even think about being bothered with it.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for the anon that wanted [drunk jeno](https://curiouscat.me/jenhyung/post/955369244)! i wrote this really quickly ;-; i hope it's alright!


	13. the one about the sleeping habits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeno/renjun, slight angst, 2K+  
> (takes place a few weeks before 'give a little time to me (or burn this out)'
> 
> rbahc time period: year 4, september
> 
> for [jazz](https://twitter.com/bydreamies)! happy belated birthday ♡

“Hello?”

“Huh,” Jeno snaps back to it. He pauses for a moment, registering the cushion in his arms and the cup in his hands. Through his peripheral, he senses Minhyung sitting beside him now, and when he turns to look, he’s met with Minhyung’s trademark look of concern, “What? What is it?”

“We were having a conversation,” Minhyung says slowly, like he were afraid Jeno couldn’t follow. A valid concern, really. Jeno shakes his head to rid the sleepiness, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jeno mumbles. He sets the cup on the coffee table, the water in it sloshing around a little, “Yeah–sorry, I’m just sleepy, I think.”

Minhyng watches, “You haven’t been sleeping well?”

Jeno doesn’t really want to answer that. In a distance, he hears Renjun and Donghyuck messing around in the kitchen, probably unearthing the takeout they brought over for dinner. He didn’t really want to talk about it again today, especially with Renjun within earshot.

“If it’s about sharing beds, I understand.”

Jeno gives him a look.

Minhyung drops his voice low, “Donghyuck’s a hugger and his body temperature’s perpetually at a hundred degrees–summer’s a trial in itself, really.” He takes a sip from his water, “I’m assuming you’re having the same problem at your new apartment?”

“Something like that,” Jeno rubs at his eyes, the tiredness sinking into his bones. He settles back onto the couch, feeling so, _so_ ready to fall asleep again. “We’ve just been–arguing, I guess.”

“Over?”

“Over the little things,” Jeno mumbles. He picks at the tassle on the cushion; it was one Jaemin thrifted and to this day, they still haven’t figured if its murky yellow print is design or dirt. “He keeps kicking me in his sleep and he doesn’t remember it in the morning, even if I wake him up in the middle of the night.”

Minhyung gives him a pointed look, “Maybe you–shouldn’t be waking him up.”

Jeno shakes his head, “It’s not a light kick, Min. It’s a kick strong enough to have me roll off the bed.” He exhales shortly through his nose, “It’s starting to make me think his subconscious wants me off the bed or something.”

“You just have to find sleeping arrangement both of you can agree on,” Minhyung says. “When Donghyuck first slept in my bed, I didn’t sleep a wink.”

“I don’t know.” Jeno buries his face in his hands, a million thoughts running through his mind.

And it isn’t just the sleeping arrangements that’s got them arguing. They bicker almost daily; about how Renjun woke up too early and Jeno woke up too late, about how they missed each other during the days from their different schedules and each other in the night from their different sleeping habits, about how they can’t seem to find _any_ middle ground between them to deal with this. It was like they spent too little time together in a situation that should have them spending more time together.

Jeno had wondered if it’d always been like this between them. They’d never bickered like this before, they’d never thought that they were spending too much time with one another one day, and then the next, collectively decided that they just didn’t want to see each other for a while.

Had he just not spent _enough_ time with Renjun to see that they’re so… incompatible?

When he admits this, Minhyung frowns. “What are you talking about, Jeno, you’ve been dating Renjun for two years now, you can’t possibly still think that?”

“I don’t,” Jeno says, going back on his own words. “I don’t–I mean, I just didn’t realize we’d be so _different_.”

“That’s not entirely a bad thing.” Minhyung settles back onto the couch, holding his mug close to his chest, “And it’s not something you have to fix, you know? You just have to talk it out with him, make sure you’re both on the same page.”

“We’ve tried that,” Jeno groans. “We just end up arguing over the same things again and again and we never get to the point of resolving it.”

“And you go to bed angry?”

Jeno purses his lips, “Well, no.”

He shifts on the couch, heat creeping up his neck when he thinks about how Renjun still reaches for him in bed, even after an argument. Jeno would be so far close to the edge and Renjun would pull him back in, pressing his forehead to Jeno’s shoulder. They’d fall asleep like that, and Jeno prays he wouldn’t be woken in the middle of the night by Renjun trying to shove him off their bed again.

“Dinner dinner dinner,” Donghyuck announces.

_Perfect timing_ , Jeno thinks. The look of concern of Minhyung’s face doesn’t go unnoticed, but he brushes it off in favor of clearing the coffee table for dinner.

“Thanks for getting these guys,” Donghyuck hums, setting down two plates of mixed vegetables and another a variation of some spicy beef dish Renjun picked, “I haven’t eaten from here in ages, I don’t think.”

“Is this from that Chinese place?” Minhyung asks. He slides off the couch, “The one near the high school?”

Jeno nods. Even on the way _there_ they’d been arguing about the smallest things–which subway line to take, which street would be quickest–and when they’d passed by their old alma mater, Jeno had wondered again–has it always been like this? Or is he now doing something wrong that seemed to make Renjun jitter and snap at his every move?

Minhyung’s brows jump, “That’s a bit of a way from here, isn’t it?”

“It’s alright,” Renjun says, coming around the table with two other dishes. He settles next to Jeno without a word–or a glance–and starts to hand out several pairs of chopsticks, “It’s close to our apartment.”

Jeno blinks, “It’s actually not that close.”

Renjun turns to him, eyes unreadable, “What?”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jeno sees Minhyung shift, “I mean–it took a while to get there since we took the bus.”

“We only took the bus because we missed the subway since you took too long to get up,” Renjun says flatly. “If you didn’t insist on taking a nap, we wouldn’t have had to wait another half hour for the next train.”

Donghyuck and Minhyung trade glances.

Jeno picks his chopsticks up mutely.

“Right.” Donghyuck clasps his hands together, “Right, right–so how’s the–new place coming along? Have you got all the furniture you need?”

“Yeah,” Renjun answers. He takes Jeno’s bowl and scoops him some rice, “It’s mostly things from IKEA, but it works.”

“About that,” Donghyuck turns to Minhyung, “Babe, do you think our new place would fit a queen bed? I took some measurements a couple of days ago and it seems a little tight for one.”

“We could always put the bed out in the living room,” Minhyung says. He draws a little diagram in the air, “Have the master bedroom as our living room to switch things around?”

“How am I going to explain that to my mother if she ever visits?” Donghyuck snorts, “She’ll think it to be too strange and have us moving everything back.”

Jeno doesn’t follow, too preoccupied with the stinging feeling in his heart. Why did Renjun have to bring that up? He didn’t _want_ to have to take a nap–but he was so tired from yesterday’s training and from being kept up all night by Renjun’s incessant sleep-talking that he just couldn’t resist shutting his eyes for an hour or two?

“–have a queen?”

Jeno looks up when Minhyung pokes him on the shoulder, “What?”

Donghyuck gives him an odd look, “I asked if you guys have a queen bed at your apartment?”

“Yes,” Renjun answers, before Jeno can, “It’s a little squeezy at the sides, but we still managed to fit a side table.”

“And it’s comfortable?”

“It is.”

Jeno keeps his eyes trained onto his bowl of rice.

“You look like you’re trying to blow up that bowl of rice with your mind, Jeno.” Donghyuck waves his chopsticks in the air, “Did you guys get the bed from IKEA too? I don’t know if I trust to quality of the beds to be honest.”

“They’re fine,” Jeno nods.

Donghyuck jokes, “I don’t know if I can trust that, coming from someone who looks like they haven’t slept in days.”

Jeno runs a hand through his hair, “I–yeah, no, the bed is fine.” And in retrospect, he doesn’t know why says, “Renjun just talks in his sleep.”

Beside him, Renjun stills.

“What?” Donghyuck’s eyes widen in surprise, “I didn’t know you talked in your sleep, Jun.”

“I don’t,” Renjun says tightly. He rests his hand on his lap and Jeno doesn’t know if he’s being glared at because he’s too insistent on looking elsewhere. “I don’t talk in my sleep.”

“Right,” Jeno says.

“I _don’t_.”

Jeno rolls his eyes, “I’ll record you one night and you’ll hear it for yourself.”

“I don’t talk in my sleep, Jeno, stop saying–”

Jeno laughs, shortly, meanly, “Sure. And you don’t kick me off the bed either, exactly.”

Renjun’s head snaps up, “If everything about me bothers you so much, maybe you’d feel better sleeping with someone else then. You’d prefer that, wouldn’t you?” His eyes shine, “Maybe you’d feel better living with someone else then too.”

“What?” Jeno balks. “What is going on with you?”

“I might ask you the same thing.” Renjun rushes to stand, and to Donghyuck and Minhyung he says, “I’m sorry, please excuse me.”

“Renjun–”

He watches, mouth agape, as Renjun scurries off down the hall of their dorm, followed by the sound of a door slamming shut.

Donghyuck snaps his fingers and jerks his thumb, “Go, Jeno.”

Not missing a beat, Jeno goes. In a daze he makes it down the hall, mind spinning. He heads for Renjun’s old room, stopping by the door when he sees that the door is still open. Donghyuck’s and Jaemin’s doors are left ajar; the only door that is shut is his own.

Steeling his nerves, he turns the knob and enters. It’s been a while since they’ve moved out of this four-person dormitory and while Jeno never liked the university dorms, he admits missing the time he’s spend in this room.

But there’s no time to dwell on the past now.

Renjun sits on the edge of the mattress, head in his hands.

Quietly, Jeno shuts the door. He approaches Renjun and drops to his knees, hands reaching out to rest on Renjun’s thigh. Renjun seems to know that it’s him without even having to look up, and the only reaction he gets is a quiet sob that breaks free.

“I’m sorry,” Jeno whispers. Whatever it is, he’ll take the blame, he doesn’t care. The urge to say _You started it_ disappears the moment he sees Renjun like this–it breaks his heart. He’s taken it too far now.

“I’m sorry, Jun, I shouldn’t have made fun of you. I–I didn’t mean it that way.”

Renjun says nothing.

“I’ve just been tired, really, there’s nothing more to it.” Jeno touches Renjun’s arms gingerly, giving the older boy time to pull away. He holds onto Renjun’s wrist, a silent request for him to _please look at me_ , “With all my training recently, it’s just been hard–to fall asleep and I know I come home late, and I’m sorry.”

“I don’t–” Renjun heaves, muffled by his hands, “I don’t–want to fight.”

“I don’t either,” Jeno says. He tugs on Renjun’s hands until Renjun finally moves them away from his face, revealing red eyes and tear-stained cheeks, “I’m sorry–I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks.”

“You make me think,” Renjun squeezes his eyes shut, “that I’m the one–that–that–you make me think that I’m not–the one–I’m not the one for–”

He doesn’t finish, dissolving into another round of shaky breathes. Jeno feels a crack in his heart and he pushes forward to wrap his arms around Renjun, trying to keep them together, “What? I’m–okay, I’m just sorry, Jun– _please_ don’t be upset anymore, alright? I’m sorry I made you feel bad, I really am.”

“But you don’t sleep–because of me–” Renjun hiccups, hands pushing against Jeno’s torso, “If you found someone else–”

_Someone else?_

“What are you talking about, Renjun?” Jeno abides and pulls away, holding Renjun steady with a hand on Renjun’s cheek, “This is–we’re just bickering, alright, relationships aren’t meant to be smooth sailing all the time, I–we’re okay, aren’t we?”

Renjun opens his eyes. Jeno catches the tears before they fall, “We’re okay?”

“Of course we are,” Jeno sighs. He kisses Renjun on the lips chastely, purely needing the reassurance himself, “We’ll always be okay, Renjun, I love you–I love you and it doesn’t matter if we argue or bicker or if we get on each other’s nerves, I’ll always love you.”

Renjun remains silent. He swallows, and Jeno sees his Adam’s apple work in his throat.

“I love you,” Jeno sighs. He grabs Renjun’s hand, squeezing it firmly, “Even if you talk in your sleep, even if you kick me off the bed, even if you get angry at me, even if–anything, Renjun, we can talk it out, can’t we?”

Renjun lifts his eyes.

Jeno tilts his head, “You can tell me anything, you know?”

Renjun hesitates, and that shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, but Jeno wills it away. He cradles Renjun’s hand to his chest, over his heart, “We’re okay, right?”

And it feels like years when Renjun finally whispers, “Okay.” His smooths his hand up Jeno’s chest to cup Jeno’s cheek, thumb stroking the highs of it, “We’re okay.”

Jeno believes him, and smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this happens before '[give a little time to me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17279696)' so :c
> 
> here's the [prompt](https://twitter.com/bydreamies/status/1163099431853367297)! i made it a little sad, but i hope it's alright! c:


End file.
